The Vampire of Black Moon Forest
by E-chu
Summary: SasuNaru. When Naruto goes on a hiking trip, he gets more than he bargained for. What lurks in the forest?
1. Into the Forest

**Author's note:** This was intended as a oneshot but I continued it due to popular demand. I do not own Naruto but with the amount of work this story is now taking, I get the feeling that he may own me.

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**The Vampire of Black Moon Forest**

"Right," Iruka announced, standing at the front of the class. He was grinning so that the scar across his nose curved upwards like a second smile. "Is everyone ready for the hiking trip tomorrow?"

A piece of paper immediately appeared in Skikamaru's hand. Iruka sighed, his double smile dropping, as he took the paper and read it.

"Did you forge this signature?" he asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Of course not, sensei. That would be too troublesome."

"Fine," Iruka slipped the note in his pocket. "You're excused."

Shikamaru leaned across to me. "I really didn't forge it y'know. Temari did it for me. I know it's troublesome that a girl is better than me but she always has to get her kid brother out of PE – he's far too violent for it."

Iruka cleared his throat, looking up from the teachers' timetable. "Shikamaru, you can help out Asuma tomorrow."

"Excellent," he whispered to me. "He'll be far too busy going through baby names with Kurenai."

"Sir!" Choji called from the row behind, showering me in bits of semi-chewed crisps. "I can't do physical activities."

"Very well, you can stay too," Iruka said, seeming to deflate.

"Sensei, I like, totally can't go tomorrow, ya know. It'll totally ruin my pedicure and just think how much it would like, mess up my hair."

"Alright, Ino –"

"I've got a medicine course with Tsunade-sama!"

"Fair enough, Sakura –"

"S-s-sensei. T-t-the woods… they-they're a little sc-sc-scary…"

"Okay, Hinata –"

"Oi, sensei! This is the Black Moon Forest, right?"

"Yes, Kiba…"

"I'm not allowed there." He said, folding his arms. I frowned. Kiba's family was pretty laid back – sure, they were weird; Kiba had come to school once with dog food in his lunch box – but for him not to be allowed somewhere… that was strange. Iruka didn't notice though.

"Fine," he muttered. "Naruto, it looks like it's just you."

I grinned. "Alright! Dattebayo!"

***

I was the last to leave the classroom today. In hindsight, asking Sakura for a kiss in case I didn't come back from the woods had not been one of my best ideas. By the time I had retrieved all my stuff, the rest of the class had filed out. I was about to follow them when I noticed a grey haired man leaning through the open window.

"Jiraiya!" Iruka admonished him. "You know you're not allowed on school property anymore!"

"Hey!" he replied, indignant. "I was only interested in Anko!"

"Nevertheless," Iruka growled. "Hanging around outside the female changing room with a pair of binoculars is never a good move. Besides, didn't Ibiki say he'd turn you inside out if he caught you anywhere near Anko again?"

"Heh, scar-face won't catch me!" He pouted. "Besides, I'm here to talk to you. Are you sure about this field trip?"

Iruka's eye twitched. "For the final time, yes! It is happening even if no one comes!"

"Alright, alright," Jiraiya held up the palms of his hands, warding off the fury. "Just make sure Kakashi goes, alright?"

"It was Kakashi's idea!"

"Oh?" This seemed to surprise him. "Interesting…"

"What's interesting?" I asked, not sure if I was supposed to have overheard that particular conversation.

"Naruto!" Iruka jumped. "Get out of here!"

I scuttled away, vaguely hearing Jiraiya ask Iruka about the hot springs before closing the door behind me.

"He didn't even see _me_."

I recoiled from the unexpected voice and stared at the guy beside me, his face obscured by a hood and dark glasses. I couldn't even see his mouth over the high collar. What was his name again? I could never remember. Begins with S… S… Sh… Shika? No that's not right…

"You didn't see me either, did you?"

"Of course I did," I grinned. "When did you get here by the way? You haven't been in school for ages!"

There was silence. I thought I heard a cricket chirp.

The hooded guy turned away from me. "I've been here all along," he muttered as he stalked off.

Touchy or what?

***

I shouldered my bag and walked outside but groaned when I saw the Freak Patrol. They were all in the year above except for their lycra-clad leader but they seriously creeped me out. The girl threw an open flick knife in the air and caught it by the handle.

"We heard you were going into Black Moon Forest tomorrow," she said.

"So what of it?" I tried to sound macho.

"I think it's great!" The bowl-cut kid cheered. "The spirit of youth will guide him through the dark trees that sprout from his inner demons!"

The long haired boy regarded me with his creepy eyes. It was as if they could see right through me. "He'll be as lost as a shark in a desert."

"Who says?" I snapped at him.

The boy waved off my challenge. "It's destiny."

"You know," the leader murmured. "Speaking of sharks in deserts, did I tell you about the time…?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei," the girl groaned. "We were there."

Bowl cut jumped up. "Let us hear it again, sensei! It will act as a bellow for the fires of our youth and rekindle the immortal flames of courage!"

"That's my favourite student!" Gai roared, delighted. "Let's do 2,000 laps of Konoha while I tell you!"

"Make it 5,000, Gai-sensei! And let us run backwards so we can become even more youthful!"

The girl twirled her flick-knife in her fingers. "Do you think I can plea reduced responsibility if I kill them?" I heard her mutter to the long haired boy.

"Relax," he replied, planting a kiss on her cheek. "If we survive this, I'll make it up to you tonight…"

I carefully sidled away while their attention was distracted. That sort of weirdness was preferable in small doses. Small doses, that is, which are locked in heavy lead-lined safes, wrapped in chains and deposited at the bottom of the ocean where they will be covered in sediment and gradually turned into coal over billions of years and later be mined from the ground, burnt and the resultant gasses pumped safely into the atmosphere. Even then, it's still a little too much.

***

I turned up early the next morning. It was just me and Kakashi-sensei going so I didn't want to make him wait.

The sun gradually hauled itself up above the village.

I sighed and sat down on my bag.

Asuma and Kurenai walked past, hand-in-hand.

"Darling, we really should get Hyuga Hiashi to just take a look…"

"I've told you before, Asuma, I want it to be a surprise! And would you put out that cigarette? It's bad for the baby!"

Shikamaru wasn't with them, as he had predicted. It was starting to dawn on me that perhaps the rest of the class had had a lucky escape.

The sun laughed at me from its position directly above. A bird fluttered down and landed on my shoulder. I watched it prune its feathers.

"Do you think you could peck Kakashi's eye out when he gets here?" I asked it. I laughed at the thought of Kakashi with both his eyes covered and the bird flew away, leaving me alone.

I rummaged through my bag and extracted a cup ramen and thermos flask of hot water. My stomach rumbled as I combined the two, responding to the mouth-watering smell. I counted down the three minutes in my head until it was ready. The worst mistake was tucking in too early, before the flavour had infused completely.

There was the crack of a branch in the forest. I looked over at the sound, trying to identify its source. It took a while to realise my hand felt strangely light. The warmth of the cup ramen was rapidly cooling.

I snapped my attention back to my precious ramen in time to see Kakashi hand me back the empty pot.

"Yum," he said, unabashedly.

I screamed. It was the only logical thing I could do in this situation. How could he? How _dare _he?! My ramen! My beautiful ramen! It was practically sacrilege!

"Teme!" I punched him in the gut. "My ramen! Mine!" I pounded him until my knuckles were sore.

"Hn?" He looked over the pages of his book. "Did you say something?"

Not a scratch. I hadn't hurt him at all. I fell to my knees and pounded the ground, the tears forming in my eyes.

"Well come on, Naruto," he turned and walked into the forest. "We haven't got all day."

***

I dragged my feet. We had been walking for hours already. My feet were sore, my stomach was still mourning the lost ramen and my nerves had just about had enough.

"You never even explained why you were late," I grumbled.

"Oh?" Kakashi looked back at me. "You know how it is. I found myself pondering the meaning of life and before I knew it, the time had just slipped away…"

"Come on," I complained. "That's not an excuse!"

"Well," he murmured, deep in thought. "I did have a little dolphin to attend to…"

"A dolphin in Konoha?" I scowled.

"Pretty much, yeah." He said. "You've probably seen him around."

I trailed after him for a while. There was no point arguing with someone so deluded. For him to think that there could possibly be a dolphin in Konoha of all places.

I stared at the crossbow on his back. "Why do you have that thing with you?"

"Hn? Protection," he answered lightly before stopping suddenly, making me collide with him.

"Oi! Don't stop like that!"

"We're going off the path." He handed me a machete.

"What's this for?" I asked, taking the dangerously sharp implement.

Kakashi sat down at the base of a tree and took out his book. "The undergrowth's pretty thick," he explained. "Well, get going."

"What?" I gaped at his audacity. "You want me to cut a path while you read your dirty book?!"

"Well," He waved the book at me. "I resent the term 'dirty book' but other than that, pretty much, yeah."

I glared at him for as long as I could. It was no good; his one visible eye was far too good at staring contests. I turned on my heel and set off at a right angle to the path, hacking at the vines and bushes.

The dense foliage soon obscured what little light had filtered through onto the path. I couldn't see Kakashi anymore. Damn him.

I swung the machete, severing the vines that threatened to ensnare me.

Damn that ramen-stealing, dirty book-reading, lazy, slave-driving sensei!

I cried out as a flash of pain cut through my hand. I cursed my luck as the dark red blood ran down my arm from where I'd gashed my palm on the machete.

There was a clearing ahead so I pushed my way through to it and threw the offending machete down where it insolently stuck in the ground. I dropped my bag to the ground and rummaged through it. Miso ramen… plain… curry… miso with pork… seafood… Surely, I remembered to pack some bandages?

"Allow me, Naruto," someone said behind me. His voice was deep but somehow wonderful.

I turned.

He was dark haired, with black eyes like a starless night. His pure white shirt was split down to the waist, revealing a perfect rock-hard body.

"How did you know my name?" I demanded but he had already snatched up my hand and pressed his lips to the cut. He gulped down my warm blood, his eyes turned to red.

After a few moments, he looked up.

"You've healed already?" His beautiful face only betrayed the slightest hint of surprise.

"Yeah, I heal quickly."

He made an odd clucking sound and licked the remaining blood off my arm. The tip of his tongue sent a spasm of unfamiliar feelings through me.

"Stop that. It tickles!"

He murmured an apology, straightening up and pulling me close. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Just call me Sasuke."

His cool hand slid under the hem of my jacket and rested against my warm body. Part of me was uncomfortable with his proximity but that part was shouted into submission by the rest of me, which yearned for the touch of his statuesque form.

"You… never said how you knew my name," I reminded him.

His thin mouth split into a grin. "I came to Konoha frequently to watch you. I was fascinated by the son of Namikaze Minato… to think the offspring of the greatest vampire hunter ever to walk this land would be such a usura tonkachi."

"Hey, I'm not - !" He silenced my protest with a kiss, which really wasn't playing fair. Curious, I ran my tongue over his teeth. Two were sharp and pointed, like fangs. Like a vampire.

Sasuke pulled away suddenly, as if he had received an electric shock. I was about to ask what I had done when I saw the crossbow bolt protruding from his arm.

"The next one's heading for your heart," Kakashi growled at him, holding his crossbow steady, aimed at Sasuke's chest.

My perfect vampire smirked. He yanked the bolt from his arm, the circular hole healing almost instantly. "Hatake Kakashi…"

"Get away from him, Naruto," Kakashi warned me.

I looked at Sasuke but didn't move. Though I had only been in his arms for a few wonderful moments, I knew that that was where I belonged.

"Naruto, he means to kill you!"

I shook my head. I knew deep inside that Sasuke wouldn't do that. Wait, how could I be so certain? I'd been beside him for only a few moments and yet he had already invaded my heart and taken each jarring beat captive.

"Kakashi-san," Sasuke took my hand in his. "You're mistaken. It is true that Madara-sama ordered me to kill Naruto before he became a danger to us but that is no longer my objective. If it were, he would not still be breathing

"Sasuke…" I breathed, unable to believe what I was hearing.

"We Uchiha once lived together as one large family. That was until my brother slaughtered them all. Since then I have been alone. Since that day, I have been filled with the darkest, inescapable loneliness. You know, as I do Kakashi-san, that hunters and vampires have the ability to forge the strongest bond of all. Despite the age-old conflict, two mortal enemies can become inseparable. You experienced that with Obito. Can you not understand my feelings for Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed, his crossbow wavering. "I understand, Sasuke, but nevertheless, I cannot leave you to drink the blood of innocents. Even the Inuzuka werewolves are scared to come here! It is my duty to stop you."

He raised his crossbow again, looking down the sights.

"No!" I stepped in front of Sasuke. "He won't hurt anyone! He can drink all he wants from me!"

There was a pause while neither Kakashi nor Sasuke responded. Once an uneasy minute had passed, Sasuke, ignoring Kakashi's presence, put his arms around me again, one hand unzipping my jacket, the other burrowing under the waistband of my trousers. I gasped at his touch and sunk into his embrace.

Though Kakashi was wearing a mask, I could tell from his single visible eye that he was smiling. He removed the bolt from his weapon and returned the crossbow to its holster on his back.

"In that case, I'll leave you two to it," he announced, satisfied by my declaration. He turned to leave us alone.

"Kakashi-san," Sasuke called after him. "If you want to go after Itachi, I'd be more than willing to help."

"Cheers," Kakashi waved over his shoulder as he left the clearing.

"Right," Sasuke spun me around to face him and slipped my jacket off. "I doubt you'll be missed in the village for a couple of hours…"


	2. Morning Light

**Author's note: **This chapter is a rewrite; I wasn't happy with the original so I changed the middle section. And yes, some of the backstory is based on Lamarckism.

* * *

I rolled over, muttering slightly under my breath. It felt as if my eyelids were fastened shut by millions of tiny hooks. What had happened last night?

I sat up, raising my arm to block out the sunlight which gushed in through the huge window. I was dressed only in my boxers but someone had folded my clothes neatly and left them beside me.

Getting to my feet, I took a look around the room which was in a considerable state of disrepair. The walls were clogged with vines and leaves, the tendrils of which snaked under the peeling wallpaper. A small sapling had grown up through the floorboards by my feet and the circular stained-glass window up in the eaves had been pierced by a gnarled branch, scattering the floor with colourful shards.

"I'm afraid it's a bit messy," that wonderful voice flowed in from the corridor. I shivered with recalled pleasure as I remembered the sweet words that voice had whispered to me last night.

"You can come in," I told him.

"No I can't," he said. "I'm sensitive to the light."

Ah, yes, how could I forget? Sasuke was a vampire. I was in love with a vampire. That was weird but somehow it felt alright… more than alright, in fact, as if that was how it was destined to be. As if there was no one else I could love. Whatever the strength of the feelings I had had for any person before, they were nothing compared to what I had felt now for Sasuke. A love that broke the boundaries between vampires and humans. I was his.

The curtains in the grand room looked too moth-eaten to survive being drawn so I slipped out into the darkened corridor where Sasuke was waiting. He smiled at me.

"What happens if you go in the light?" I couldn't help but ask. "Do you turn to dust or something?"

He gave a low chuckle. "Nothing so dramatic. It's just like really bad sunburn really quickly. Trust me; you'd be rubbing balm into my skin for weeks."

"Well that's always a positive," I smirked.

Sasuke made a small noise somewhere between a laugh and a tut. "How are you feeling this morning, Naruto-koi?"

"A little sore," I admitted which made Sasuke grin. "Alright, it's about time you answered some questions."

"Sure," he said, resting his beautiful black-haired head against the wall.

"Why?"

"'Why' what, dobe?"

"Why are you doing this? Why do you love me? Why do I feel this way for you? Why are we going so fast?"

He smiled. "That's a whole lot of whys. Here we go: because I love you. It's a vampire/hunter bond thing. Ditto. And because we love each other. Happy?"

I glared; he'd told me nothing I hadn't gathered from his conversation with Kakashi. "But I'm not a vampire hunter or whatever…"

"Your father was; he was the best, known as the fourth hokage. They say he even took on Madara, the strongest of us vampires, though he lost his life in the struggle."

"Wait," I stopped him. "My father died in a freak accident. A tree fell on him in the forest."

Sasuke sighed. "They lied pretty well. The truth is that he was a hunter and because his blood flows in your veins, so are you, whether you like it or not."

"But I don't want to hunt," I complained, thinking of Sasuke's loving caress.

"Then don't. You can't change what you are but it's your choice as to what you do. The whole world is open to you; your choice is unlimited." He reached up and touched my cheek. His fingers were still as cold as they were in my memory.

"Then why are you calling me a hunter?" I pushed his hand away. "I'm just a normal person, not some special vampire hunter!"

"Hunters aren't normal." He turned away and sat at the foot of the stairs.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

He didn't respond at all, instead resting his chin on his interlocked hands and staring straight ahead. I stood in front of him.

"Listen Sasuke-teme, if you're going to talk in riddles and ignore me then maybe I should just walk out that door and go home!"

Still, his lips did not move; he said nothing. Well if that was the way he wanted it…

I strode towards the door, only to be called back by Sasuke when he finally decided to speak.

"Naruto… I don't want you to leave but… maybe that would be best."

I rolled my eyes and reached out to grab his wrist. "Just talk to me Sasuke! Tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

He shook his head. "It's not you. It's just that some people might not be as understanding about us as Kakashi…"

"There are other hunters?" I guessed.

"Yeah but not just them. Jiraiya will trust Kakashi's judgement but the werewolves won't be happy and then there are others…"

"Sasuke!" I pulled him to me, putting my arms around him. "I don't care about what anyone else thinks! So what if our relationship is unconventional? I love you!"

After a moment's silence, he responded, "I love you too."

We sunk down to the floor together with me resting my head upon his hard, warm chest and his long fingers running through my hair and across my body.

"Sasuke… tell me we're going to be okay."

I felt him chuckle, his torso shaking under me. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Naruto-koi."

I smiled, holding my protector tighter. "And I won't ever leave your side. That's a promise."

He looked down at me and I up at him, observing the surprised expression on his face merge into a reflection of my own smile. He bent down to kiss my forehead.

"Why is it this way, Sasuke?" I asked him. "Why do the hunters hate vampires?"

He sat up slightly, wedging himself between the dresser and the wall. "There was considerable bad blood between us in the past," he said. "We are not the only demons that exist, though most remain in the Demon Realm. The vampires were supposed to guard the gateways between the realms and we lived in harmony with the humans.

"However, a certain vampire betrayed the humans and released a devastating demon, the Kyubi on the Human Realm. From that day forward, the hunters targeted the vampires. They were not mere humans but the strongest of warriors, with the ability to pass the powers gained in their lifetime onto their offspring."

"But… that would mean…"

"Each successive hunter generation is stronger than the previous," he said. "They call it the Will of Fire; to the hunters, the future of humanity is more important than their individual safety."

I closed my eyes, unable to say anything. Was that what my life was going to be ruled by now? The actions of our ancestors had created a rift between two different species and yet, the two species were still able to be joined by unbreakable bonds.

It was comfortable, enveloped in Sasuke's arms, and I felt myself slowly falling asleep. I didn't mind though, because I was exactly where I wanted to be.

Just when I was about to drop off, the front door burst open, letting in a stream of light. Sasuke, pressed himself further back against the wall to avoid the brightness.

"Close the damn door, Kakashi!" I shouted at the figure on the threshold, moving to block Sasuke from the danger.

"Teme!" Kakashi shouted, rushing forward and pushing me aside. He lifted Sasuke up by the throat so that his toes just touched the floor. The tip of Kakashi's crossbow pressed against his chest. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow.

"What have you done, you bastard?!" Kakashi's trademark cool control had vanished, leaving an enraged monster of pure bristling nerve endings.

Sasuke looked as calm as if Kakashi had just waved to him. "I don't understand what you mean, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi shook him. "I'm not a fool! What have you done to Obito?"

A frown appeared on Sasuke's forehead. "Kakashi… Obito's dead," he said sympathetically.

After a few seconds of contemplation, the hunter released him. "Come with me," he instructed before stepping out the door.

Sasuke turned to me. "Get dressed," he said nodding to the huge room I had woken in and dashed up the stairs. I dressed quickly, throwing on my usual orange outfit and waited for Sasuke at the foot of the stairs.

"Oi, dobe," he called from the doorway. "I'm already done."

I hurried out the door, trying to remove the embarrassment from my face. Sasuke was dressed in a high-collared cloak with a wide-brimmed straw hat to protect himself from the sun. The pair of them were already walking in what I assumed was the direction of the village and I quickly fell into step beside them. Sasuke reached out a gloved hand to hold mine.

From the outside, I could see Sasuke's house was huge but the forest had encroached on it to such an extent that it was quickly invisible among the trees. There were other houses that were far worse off, their windows boarded up and roofs sunken in or completely collapsed.

"All the Uchihas once lived here," Sasuke explained. "My brother wiped them all out apart from me and Madara, though he wasn't here at that time. If he had been, things would have been different…"

"And we would have been overrun in vampire scum," Kakashi added.

"It's you humans that breed like rats," Sasuke reminded him as we walked deeper into the forest. I don't know if it was because we took a different route or because I was holding Sasuke's hand but it didn't take nearly as long to reach Konoha as it had taken to get to the clearing yesterday.

We came out on the northern edge of the village in the cemetery. I had never liked the rows of cold grey gravestones; they always gave me shivers down the back of my neck. I recognised the grey-haired Jiraiya sitting on the stone of a freshly dug grave. He stiffened when he saw Sasuke approaching.

"Jiraiya, it's fine," Kakashi held up his hands. "Sasuke wasn't responsible."

"Responsible for what?" I asked. Sasuke let go of my hand and pointed to the excavated grave. It wasn't neatly dug as I had assumed new graves were supposed to be but rather, the earth had fallen back into the hole and the grass around was buried under the weight of scattered soil.

"Someone… dug up the body?" I said quietly, shocked by the cruelty of the act.

"Yeah," Sasuke murmured. He addressed Kakashi. "This is Obito's grave, right?"

Kakashi nodded his assent. "The gravestone was cracked in two."

"I can only think of one person who would do this," Sasuke muttered. Jiraiya and Kakashi shared a look.

"What?" I asked, irked at being left out of the conversation.

Jiraiya answered in a low tone, "Uchiha Madara is moving again."


	3. Holiday

**Author's note: **This story seems to have ended up a bit of a mess; sorry about that. I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going now and I've decided not to have any more random lemon like last chapter... don't ask what I was thinking when I wrote that - it's far too hot to think here. I would say I'll rewrite it if I didn't know I was too lazy to do that.

I guess I should give a spoilers warning but if you've got this far, it's a bit late for that so I'll leave you with the disclaimer that I own neither Naruto nor de Havilland aircraft.

* * *

"Uchiha Madara is moving again."

I eyed Jiraiya. This wasn't the first time that I had come across that name. Sasuke had mentioned him… hadn't he called him 'the greatest vampire'? If that was true then surely this posed a serious a problem.

"Sasuke… who's Madara?"

He looked down at me. "Don't worry about it, Naruto-koi." He glanced around the cemetery before turning to the gate, dragging me along by the hand.

"Where are we going, Sasuke?"

"On holiday. Somewhere nice."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Sasuke, you won't be able to run from him."

My skin prickled. "Why do we have to run? I thought Madara was a vampire like you."

"It's fine," Sasuke assured me. "Kakashi, I won't let anything happen to Naruto. Even if it costs me my own life, I swear I will protect him."

"That's a pretty big promise," Jiraiya said.

Someone snorted behind us; I turned to see a severe-looking woman with scraggly hair, flanked by Kiba and his sister.

"Vampires can't keep promises," Kiba's mother glared at Sasuke.

Kakashi waved the comment away. "Peace, Tsume-san. Sasuke's trustworthy."

"Says you who should have killed him. How do we know you aren't going to betray us, half-vampire?" She spat on the ground.

"Half-vampire?" I whispered to Sasuke.

"Before he died, Obito passed some of his life-force into Kakashi," Sasuke explained. "Kakashi has certain vampiric traits."

"You know me, Tsume," Kakashi said peaceably. "I will never let anyone down."

"You know what Madara wants," She narrowed her eyes. "So what are you going to do, Kakashi? Are you going to stand with us or against us? We may have a truce at the present but I swear, if you even think of double-crossing us, I will tear your throat out!"

Sasuke, tugged on my arm, pulling me towards the gate. Behind us, Kiba broke away from his family, quietly following us at a distance.

"Sasuke…" I murmured.

"I know," he replied. "Go home, get your passport and meet me at the aerodrome. I'll lose the dog."

***

Half an hour later, I was standing in the waiting area of Konoha aerodrome with my passport in hand, waiting for Sasuke who was taking his time in shaking Kiba off. As luck would have it, there was a vending machine in the small room and it sold pot ramen. I fished a couple of coins from my frog purse and fed them into the slot. The pot came tumbling out with a clunk.

I was about to tuck in when a hand grabbed me by the back of my jumper and dragged me into the toilets.

"Sasuke!" I protested as he locked us both in a cubicle. "Is no one going to let me eat?"

"Take your jacket and shirt off."

"This really isn't the time for that. Aren't we supposed to be running away?"

"Tsk, I didn't mean for that." He stripped me to the waist and pushed me against the cubical wall.

"Sasuke… what are you…?"

He fixed me with a patient gaze. "I need to feed. Don't tense up."

Before I was quite ready, a sharp pain pierced my neck. A warm trickle of blood ran over my torso, escaping Sasuke's hurried gulping. Somehow, it wasn't quite fair that he got to eat but I wasn't allowed. It was a couple of minutes before he drew back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You know, you'd taste nicer if you ate a few more vegetables now and then."

I stuck out my tongue to show my disdain for vegetables. "If God had wanted us to eat vegetables then he wouldn't have given us ramen."

"Uh… Naruto, God didn't invent ramen…"

"Baka!" I gave him my darkest glare. "How could anything so delicious not come from heaven?"

I slipped my jacket back on and zipped it right up to cover the bite marks on my neck. They wouldn't be a problem for long; my body always healed rapidly. I had always assumed that was just one of my quirks but I suppose Sasuke would say it was part of me being related to my dad. Most people are related to their fathers, of course, yet it was only I who had someone special as a father. Frankly, I couldn't think of anything more troublesome than that.

I trailed after Sasuke up to the check-in desk where Sasuke brought last minute tickets for some place I didn't quite catch the name of. We were ushered out onto the landing strip where a small twin-engined aircraft awaited us.

I climbed on board and was met with the condescending glares of the fifteen-or-so other passengers who were already seated. I heard an old couple mutter something about young people always turning up late. Sasuke entered behind me and gave me a little nudge to sit down as the flight attendant closed the door.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she announced. "There are just a few bits of safety information I need to run through before we leave –"

I raised my hand. The attendant looked perplexed for a few moments, clearly not used to questions.

"Uh… yes, sir?"

"What plane is this?" I asked. Beside me, Sasuke buried his head in his hands for some reason.

"It's a DHC-6 Twin Otter. Right, where was I? Ah yes, if you would all fasten your seatbelts on take-off and landing. In the unlikely case of an emergency – yes what is it now?" She asked, seeing my hand in the air again.

"Has there ever been an accident?"

"Thankfully not with our airline. You are in self hands, sir. Now, the exits are located here and here. If we lose cabin pressure –"

I was just about to ask another question when Sasuke pressed his hand over my mouth. He gave the attendant a sheepish smile and held onto me until her boring speech was over.

"Have you never flown before?" He asked as the plane was taking off. I shook my head; I only had a passport because the school had taken a day trip across the border the previous year and that had been by coach.

"Well just sit tight and wait until we land. You can take off your seatbelt now we're in the air."

"How long 'till we get there?" I asked, unclipping my seatbelt.

"Not too long. It's not far." He reached over me and closed the blind on the window, blocking out the sunset.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"The Wind Country." He looked at me with an expression somewhat like concern. "You should get some sleep, Naruto."

"What about you?"

He frowned and looked away. "I don't sleep."

In the end, neither did I. Rather, I spent the flight watching my Sasuke and intermittently asking the attendant about the plane whenever she passed. Since night had already fallen, I opened the blind to watch our touch down at the airport in the Wind Country. The rows of landing lights and flood lamps illuminated the cracked and dusty runway isolated in the middle of the desert. A few corrugated iron hangars lined the asphalt, as did a tiny check-in, dimly lit from within.

"It's not very fancy," I observed.

"The Wind Country is rich but mostly desert so doesn't do much in the way of tourism," Sasuke answered quietly. "Most of these people will just be stopping off here and… hullo, it looks like we have a welcoming committee." He pointed out of the window as we slowly rolled to a stop. Three figures stood on the runway and through I couldn't make out their faces, I saw that each carried a katana at their waist.

Sasuke seemed completely calm as the mysterious trio boarded the plane. The tallest male, dressed all in black pushed the attendant aside and folded his arms, standing back from the door.

"Oi, stay in your seats!" He shouted as the old couple tried to stand.

A second male with red hair entered after him, followed by a blonde female. The redhead placed his hands on his hips, standing in the centre of the aisle, and glared through dark-rimmed eyes at Sasuke.

"I told you not to come back here, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke rose as if to greet an old friend. "Gaara-san. Did Kakashi not inform you of my arrival?"

There was a thunk as a shuriken hit the seat. I leant away from the sharp metal star. The quiet muttering amongst the fellow passengers that had been produced by Gaara's dramatic entry ceased immediately.

"Unfortunately, I did receive Kakashi-san's message," Gaara intoned. "For that reason alone I will not kill you today. I trust you will leave on the next flight?"

"We shall see."

Gaara paused. "Yes, we shall. Is this the boy?" He asked, looking at me.

"His name is Naruto," Sasuke responded, stressing the word 'name'.

Gaara gave a nod. "Naruto, go with Temari. Sasuke and I need to talk."

I almost choked when I heard the girl's name. Shikamaru had kept pretty quiet about his long-distance girlfriend so I hadn't even met her when she came to visit him. It was strange to meet her here.

I gave Gaara another look. This must be Temari's younger brother who was too violent for PE… considering he'd just thrown a shuriken in a plane, that was self evident but it also meant the kid was still in school, perhaps younger than me.

"These people are…" I said in an aside to Sasuke.

"Hunters, yes. Go with Temari. You'll be okay, I promise."

Temari gave me a little wave and I didn't have any choice but to follow her off the plane and across the runway to the terminal.

"Where are we going?" I asked her, dragging me feet. The other passengers had disembarked but Sasuke was still on the plane with the scary Gaara and the loudmouth boy.

"To a hotel; we have a conjoining room booked." She looked at me and softened her tone. "Your name was Naruto, right? You're friends with Shikamaru… he mentioned you."

I didn't want to leave Sasuke behind but at least we'd be in the hotel together; we wouldn't need the second room. To keep Temari away from inquiring after my train of thought, I played along with her casual conversation. "What did he say?"

"Oh, nothing bad. He said you were the life and soul of the class."

It took me the rest of the walk to analyse that comment for euphemisms; there had to be something bad hidden in those words. The hotel was a square white-washed construction on the outskirts of a little settlement centred around an oasis. Temari checked in at the hotel's reception and threw me a chunky key.

"I'll be in the room next door," she smiled. "So just call if you need anything."

"Oh okay… When's Sasuke going to get here?"

Her smile faded. "Naruto… Sasuke's not coming."


	4. Abandoned

**Author's note:** I didn't expect to get this chapter finished today but I managed it so I'm pretty proud of myself. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"Sasuke's not coming," Temari said gently.

"What the hell do you mean?" I shouted at her. A few guests in the waiting area and clustered around the pool turned to look at me but I didn't give a damn about them. "Of course Sasuke's coming! He just stayed behind to talk to your dumb brother!"

Temari rubbed her neck nervously. "Well the thing about that is… well, Sasuke's staying on the plane."

"But that's stupid! If he stays on then he'll end up wherever that flight's next stop is and…" I dropped the key onto the tiled floor as realisation came to me. Pushing past Temari, I ran out the revolving door into the comfortable heat of night time in the Wind Country.

"Naruto, wait!" I ignored the blonde huntress. It wasn't that far to the airport and they'd have to refuel the plane – I could get there and save Sasuke. I set off at a sprint, feeling my toes sink into the sand with each step.

Temari's pattering footfalls were behind me but I found that I was able to outrun her quite easily. My breath caught in my throat, the speed whipping at me as the terminal building came into sight. I charged through the door, only to be knocked down by an outstretched arm.

The jumpsuit kid looked down at me, sprawled on the floor. "What d'ya think you're doing, punk?" He sneered. "Temari, you were told to keep an eye on him."

Temari doubled up, panting. "Don't blame me, little brother. The kid's fast!"

I raised my head to look through the window at our plane, still on the runway. Sasuke wasn't lost yet! I jumped to my feet and ran to the departure gate we had come through.

Gaara stepped in front of me, his arms folded, blocking my route.

"Get out of the way," I growled at him. "You're not going to keep me away from Sasuke!"

"This was Sasuke's decision. It's for your own safety."

"Liar!" I ducked past him and ran to the gate, slamming my palms against it. The door was locked; I could only watch from inside as the door of the DHC-6 closed, swallowing my love.

My memory flittered to the last few moments I had spent alongside Sasuke on the plane and an idea struck me, sparked by the memory of Gaara's entrance. I turned swiftly and knocked Gaara to the ground, spilling the contents of his pack across the fuzzy blue carpet. I hooked a shuriken up with my finger and threw it at the window.

The glass shattered into a thousand diamond shards which fell outwards in a slow shower of sparkles. I leapt through, landing easily on the asphalt and darting forward.

The plane's propellers turned gradually at first but picked up speed, blurring until they could no longer be made out. The aircraft moved forward, the tail swing around.

I almost tripped, charging after the plane. The hunters were behind me, determined to stop me in my tracks.

The tail plane was just beyond my reach. I stretched my arm out, my fingertips brushing against the exterior of the plane.

It was moving faster now and the gap between me and him was ever increasing.

"Sasuke!" I screamed his name, though it must have been inaudible over the twin engines, I hoped Sasuke would hear it and know the pain that was in my heart.

I was running as fast as I could, pushing my body beyond its limits but I knew it was impossible. My pace slowed and I fell forward to my knees as the plane's wheels left the ground, the metal bird rising into the heavens.

Gaara and Temari crouched down either side of me. I felt hands around my shoulders that offered comfort but which I wished would leave me alone. I ducked my head so my tears wouldn't betray me.

"Naruto, you have to believe us when we say this was what Sasuke wanted," Temari was saying.

"That's not true!" I managed to say, stifling the sobs in my throat.

"It is," Gaara said. "He wants you to be safe which is why he left you here with us."

"Shut up!" Who did he think he was talking like that when he was the same age as me? "I'd rather be happy than safe and the only place I can be happy is with him!"

Temari stood up, the weight of her arm leaving my shoulders. "Fine! Be a selfish little brat when we're offering you safety! Let's go, Kankuro."

Two pairs of footsteps faded into the distance, leaving me the red-headed leader. He sat down in front of me, crossing his legs.

"What do you want, teme?"

He sighed. "I used to be like you, hating everyone –"

"I don't hate everyone," I shouted, looking up at him. "I just hate people who screw with my life!"

He nodded with a strange half-smile. "Sasuke will be back for you."

"How do you know?" I wanted to believe him so badly, I really did but in the last two days, everything I had come to know had changed forever. How could I be sure of anything anymore?

"Because he told me he would," Gaara answered. He tapped the red tattoo on his forehead. "See this?"

"Love…" I murmured, reading the kanji.

"Sasuke loves you; that's how I know he'll be back for you when he's finished."

I bit my lip, feeling fresh tears of emotion form. "Why couldn't he tell me…?"

"If he had, would you have been able to let him go?"

I wiped my nose on my sleeve. Gaara was right. "Thanks…"

He stood up. "I'll wait for you in the terminal."

"Gaara," I called after him as he was walking away. "Do you… have anyone?"

He grimaced. "I don't have a special person, no… but I guess that's okay because I have everyone who believes in me beside me."

He left me alone as a cooling desert breeze blew over me. Sasuke loved me… but how long would it be before I could see him again?

The breeze brought with it a rolling mist which swirled in little puffs around my body. I looked to see if Gaara was watching from the terminal but the building was obscured by the mist. In fact, it had become strangely thick all of a sudden.

I raised my hand in front of me. Even when I brought it so close that it touched my nose, I could only just make out the shape of my fingers. This wasn't normal.

Scrambling to my feet, I called out to Gaara. It would be insane to go running about in this visibility but I couldn't just sit here. Stretching my arms out to feel for obstacles, I took a few shaky steps forward before realising I had no idea which way I needed to go.

This was silly; I was panicking – all I had to do was wait for the fog to lift.

A figure emerged from the mist as if he had condensed from the millions of droplets hanging in the air.

"Gaara!" I exclaimed, relieved that he had come to me. However, I realised this figure wasn't Gaara as soon as I saw the black hair and red eyes.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

"No," the figure answered. "Not Sasuke…"

The world upended itself and I tumbled through the dense cloud of fog, misty tendrils wrapping themselves around me and pulling me down into oblivion.

Gradually, the mist cleared from the edges of my vision, though I couldn't see anything in the darkness. Hard, uneven rock pressed against my back and I soon found out that this had caused a crick in my spine when I tried to move. Shifting my position, I felt a drip of water land on my nose and run off across my cheek. Well that explained the damp smell of moss and soil as well as the steady patter of rain outside.

I sat up. It appeared that I was in some sort of cave, far from any desert. The mouth gaped out over a dark green pine forest, the rows of tall, slender trees spreading out and merging into a bristling carpet of green.

A full moon sat on the horizon, so close that it was almost tangible. Dark clouds passed over the huge white orb giving it a mysterious quality which was somehow calming to me. I went to stand in the entranceway where I could breathe in the cool fresh air but was protected from the rain above by the lip of the cave.

Where the pine trees met the star-scattered sky, the land rose up, reaching toward the moon and perched on the highest pinnacle was balanced the silhouette of a castle, its awkward collection of spires and towers radiating outwards from the central block like some poor mutated creature.

"Do you like it?" A voice behind me inquired. The tone reminded me of Sasuke but there was a threatening edge here.

"Who the heck are you?"

He ignored me, still talking about the castle. "It belongs to Madara-sama. It's not his only abode but he likes it as a place to carry out his experiments since it's out of the way."

"You're Itachi, aren't you?" I guessed, remembering one of the names Sasuke had mentioned.

"That's right, Naruto. Are you scared?" He stepped forward, out of the shadows. His long black cloak was open to the waist like Sasuke wore his shirts. However, his eyes were more striking than Sasuke's a deeper shade of red that bore through the subject of his gaze.

"No, I'm not scared," I replied and it was true that I didn't feel it. I felt strong; my adrenalin had been stimulated by his emergence and it was flowing through me, removing pain and leaving only strength as I searched for a decent escape route.

"I killed the entire Uchiha clan," he reminded me.

"Not all of them. Still, you did the hunters… us hunters a favour – what was there to gain for you from that slaughter when all you did was remove your allies and make the survivors your enemies."

"It was… a test of my ability. We need benchmarks to see how we have progressed and how far we have yet to go…"

I clenched my fists. How could this man have so little a reason to do something like that? Was Sasuke's brother this blinded by his lust for power that he would destroy all his ties to everyone he loved and gain so little in return?

"And what am I? Another test of your ability to see how good you are?"

He chuckled darkly. "Please, kidnapping you was a trifle. Gaara's little gang of 'hunters' are no comparison for my skill; their days are numbered. No, you are part of a greater plan. If you want someone to listen then you must take what is most precious and hold onto it. You are the thing that is most precious to Sasuke, my little brother, and therefore you are fulfilling the roles of both bait and hostage."


	5. Itachi

**Author's note:** Sorry, it's been quite a while between updates, hasn't it? Anyway, the latest chapter's here now! Also, it turns out I'm not as lazy as I thought so I redid the second chapter.

* * *

I glared at him. He watched me back, smirking, his sharp eyes emphasised by the deep ridges beneath them. I took a step backwards, the loose rocks at the entrance to the cave shifting under the weight of my heel.

He stood in front of me, not moving, not blocking my escape route. All I had to do was turn and run, run until I found some sort of village or settlement.

I couldn't turn though. My body had seized up, my muscles refusing to move me as if I were trapped in a dream where I had no choice over my movements. I had heard people talk of being petrified with fear and Hinata from school froze up and fainted a lot but surely, fear couldn't actually stop you from moving.

Behind me, I heard a grinding of stone over stone. Through much effort, I was able to move my head just enough to see the cave close like a mouth, blocking out the moonlight. When I looked back, Itachi had vanished. Still my legs would not move to let me search for him.

"Hey! Somebody help!" I called out in the vain hope that someone would hear. Naturally, no one would be able to discern my voice through the rock, let alone get in to me so I was surprised when Kakashi appeared, sitting on a rock reading Icha Icha Paradise as if the situation we were in was as normal as walking down the street in Konoha.

"Oi, Kakashi! Give me a hand, I can't move." I said to his back.

Slowly, his head turned around to appraise me. It would have been a lot less weird if his body had moved rather than just his head turning a hundred-and-eighty degrees.

"Uh… Kakashi?"

The vampire hunter stared at me, not saying a word. I was about to ask him if he could talk when his mask slipped, falling from his face. I screamed, falling backwards against the rocky wall, my spell of immobility broken, presumably by the shock of what was beneath Kakashi's mask.

Or rather, what wasn't there. He had no mouth. There was nothing but smooth, stretched skin where it should have been.

He stood, his body rotating to match his head, and took a step toward me, looming, stretching out his hand to touch me. I shuffled back but still he came forwards with each crashing step.

I could go back no further. His fingers were reached towards me, an inch from my nose.

His movements slowed. The tip of his middle finger was slightly blackened. It curled back on itself and the blackness spread to the ends of his other fingers. Flakes started crumbling from his hand. Soon his whole arm had turned black and disintegrated.

Kakashi stared at the stump that had been his arm before quite suddenly the rest of his body turned to ash. I sighed, wiping my brow as the particles floated to the ground.

I was alone once more, in the dark.

A dark laughter echoed up from the depths of the cave, followed by its owner. Itachi stood in front of me and though he had stopped laughing, the sound remained in the confined surroundings, taunting me.

"This is an illusion, isn't it?"

"Well done," he chuckled sarcastically. "Though I'm impressed you were able to move. Still, no one has ever escaped from my genjutsu."

He swung his fist around to punch me, his arm stretching instantly to cross the distance between me and him. I dived away to avoid the blow but his fist came around from behind and knocked me to the ground.

I groaned, holding my nose where it had crunched onto the limestone. Itachi was laughing again.

"I'm getting tired of you, Itachi-teme!"

"That's some big talk," he smirked. "You know, it really doesn't matter to me whether you're dead or alive."

I snatched up a stone and threw it at Itachi's face. Rather than dodge it, his face simply changed shape, distorting to allow the stone to pass through.

I felt something grip my legs. Thick pillars of rock were winding upwards, weaving and swaying as they wrapped themselves tightly around my legs, squeezing my flesh. I tried to rip them off as they continue to grow, enveloping my torso, their smooth surface cold against my skin.

Stalactites dangling from the ceiling caught my wrists and spiralled down my arms. I tried to struggle as a tapering tip of rock brushed against my neck creeping along my jaw line.

Dammit. I closed my eyes tight shut and stood perfectly still. This was just an illusion. Nothing but an image presented to my senses. It wasn't real.

The stalagmites covered my mouth. I couldn't breathe. The limestone reached down my throat, choking me, its cool, sharp taste filling my senses.

It was an illusion. Illusions can't hurt you. Breathe normally.

But how could I breathe? My body was by now encased in rock, my chest unable to move, my lungs finding it impossible to get to air.

Enough! Don't think. Don't worry. I emptied my mind, thinking of nothing, allowing serenity to wash over me, ignoring my screaming senses.

In the emptiness, I felt a presence. Something inside me, speaking, offering me its help. I opened my mind to it, letting it enter me. My blood boiled with power. It was as if my skin was peeling from my body.

This sensation… Like a fuse, counting down. Sparks ran through my veins. My eyes were open but I couldn't see anything. A roaring rush of red, all around, blasting outwards like an explosion, ripping through the rocks, blasting everything around into nothing and then…

The red power subsided, sinking down inside me. I dropped to my knees and once again found myself unconscious.

I was woken by the rain falling on my face, soaking my clothes. I sat up, my head thumping and my ears ringing. As far as I could tell, I hadn't moved.

The castle still stood over the forest, the full moon behind it. The difference was that the cave no longer had a roof, leaving me exposed to the whipping rain. A flash of lightning tore a jagged streak down the night sky, the crack of thunder following it almost immediately.

Perhaps that was it; the mountainside had been hit by lightning. In which case I had been very lucky indeed.

I got to my feet and made my way down what was left of the mountain, sliding on the loose, wet gravel. The pine trees seemed to have all been pushed away by the lightning strike or whatever it had been so that they leant at odd angles, pointing towards the castle.

I ran into the shelter of the trees, though with my saturated jumpsuit already sticking to my skin, it really would be a challenge to get any wetter than I was. The foliage didn't block out much rain but it was at least slightly drier and the crashing thunder was muffled. Unfortunately, here the raindrops condensed into larger droplets which fell pitter-pattering, glancing off my head and any other surface that happened to be below them.

Initially, I had set off heading for the castle but with my view obscured by branches, it was no longer possible to tell which direction I was going and so I just walked straight ahead through the night, my only guide being the little moonlight that filtered through the trees.

The rain was easing off now, though the soil was still damp beneath my feet and my sodden clothes were starting to itch. My legs were starting to ache. My feet hurt too and I had no idea how long I had been walking, let alone how far it would be to the castle. Sitting at the foot of the tree, I decided to take a short break in order to recover and continue walking in about ten minutes. What I wouldn't give for some ramen right now…

The thought of ramen was so delicious that its smell entered my nostrils. I closed my eyes, picturing all the toppings and condiments that came with a bowl of Ichiraku ramen. Pretty soon I had dropped off to sleep again.

This time it was a snuffling sound that awoke me. Carefully, I opened my eyes, expecting some sort of animal to have been nuzzling me in my sleep. Instead, I came face to face with a messy-haired boy with red fangs painted on his cheeks.

"Hey, Naruto!" Kiba grinned, kneeling on the ground in front of me. It took a few moments for me to remember that my classmate was a werewolf and considerably longer for me to attempt to get my head around his dress sense. I failed at the latter.

"Kiba, why the hell are you not wearing any clothes?"

He gave me a look as if my question had been one of the most ridiculous he had heard. "What do you expect me to do? Carry spare clothes around in my mouth?"

I resisted the temptation to say that that was exactly what I would have expected him to do and instead asked what he was doing here.

"Working for Kakashi-san. He's confronting Madara up in the old castle and he needs us to keep a lookout," he explained. "Now your turn – what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in the Wind Country with Gaara-san?"

"It's a long story," I said, unwilling to go through the hassle of explaining about Itachi kidnapping me, bringing me here to catch Sasuke and my miraculous escape. If I knew Kiba, he wouldn't believe a word of it anyway.

"We have all night."

"No we don't," I corrected him. "If Kakashi's up at the castle then that's where I want to be. Which way is it?"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "It'll take you an age to get there on foot. Ride on my back."

"What?" I gave him an uncomprehending look but he ignored it. Fur sprouted from his skin, all across his body, as his body changed, his arms becoming more muscular, transforming into front legs. His fingers shrunk back into his hands and the nails grew into claws. By the time a tail had grown and Kiba's nose had elongated into a snout, I was left standing beside a full-grown white wolf.

The wolf – or Kiba, rather – gestured with his head for me to get on his back. I complied, winding my hands into his fur to get a good grip. His body heat warmed me through my damp clothes.

Without warning me, Kiba shot forward, winding between the trunks of trees which flashed past. I was forced to throw my arms around his neck and lay prostrate along his back to avoid being knocked off by low branches. His heart thudded in his ribcage, beating against the inside of my legs as I squeezed my thighs together.

"Kiba, slow down!"

His bark sounded almost like a laugh as we burst from the cover of the trees, speeding across the barren embankment, the gothic castle towering over us, telling us to come closer if we dared.


	6. Madara's Castle

**Author's note:** Another chapter for you guys. Just so you know, Naruto is about fifteen here.

* * *

I climbed off Kiba's back somewhat shakily and tried to stretch some feeling back into my aching legs.

"Next time," I said. "Don't run so fast."

"Hey, we got here quick, didn't we?" He smirked, already in human form and still distinctly lacking in the clothes department. I made a mental note that I would do something about that as soon as possible.

"Any ideas how we get in?" I asked, looking around. The castle was surrounded by a steep-sided ditch which was gradually filling with water from the torrential rain, turning the soil into a sort of black sludge. A wooden bridge spanned the moat, leading to two huge wooden doors inlaid with black nails as large as a person's fist.

Seeing no better alternative, I crossed the bridge, which creaked under my feet, and pushed against the doors. They wouldn't shift at all, remaining snugly closed. I rested by back against the wood, taking what little shelter from the rain that the wall would provide. Kiba watched me, a tinge of apprehension entering his canine features.

"Naruto, I don't think we should be going in…"

"What?"

He ran a hand through his wet hair, causing it to stand up in spikes. "The thing is, Kakashi had us on lookout so no one would interrupt…"

"If he didn't want anyone here then he might as well have just gone by himself," I told him, feeling exasperation enter my tone.

"Well," Kiba said slowly. "We were sort of waiting for someone else to arrive."

"Who?" It was annoying how everyone was so cryptic all the time, never telling you what you needed to know.

"Well, uh… Uchiha Sasuke-kun."

I ran out into the rain and took the werewolf by his shoulders.

"Sasuke is here?!"

"Well, not yet, I don't think…"

"Dammit, Kiba!" I let go of him. "Did you have to get my hopes up like that?"

He sighed. "Look, I think there's a back way into this place."

I couldn't help grinning. I had a way into Madara's castle; a way to Kakashi and therefore one step closer to my reunion with Sasuke. My guide lead me around the base of the castle, our feet slipping and squelching through the mud, until we came to a spot about halfway around the back wall where the ditch was just slightly narrower. Kiba took a few steps back and leapt the distance easily, landing on the other side.

I gave the ditch a wary look; it still looked too far for a normal human to jump. Kiba called over to me to see what my reluctance was but I didn't answer. True, it was a long way but I wasn't a normal human and besides, if I didn't make it I'd just get a little muddy.

Taking a small run-up like Kiba had, I jumped the ditch. As I landed on the other side, my foot slipped and I fell face-down into the mud. Kiba's hand grabbed my wrist to stop me sliding down into the murky water and helped me to my feet.

"Is this it?" The wall looked exactly like all the others; plain grey stone blocks.

Kiba gave a knowing grin and reached up to a small block which stuck out of the otherwise smooth wall. He gave it a firm push and the stone yielded, grating back into the side of the castle. A deep clanking sound resonated from inside and gradually, a segment of the wall a few metres from where we stood swung back, revealing a tight opening.

We sidled along to the new doorway and ducked inside. Behind us, the hidden entrance slid back into position, leaving Kiba and me in a corridor lit only by the flickering light of burning torches.

"This way," Kiba whispered, gesturing for me to follow him. The corridor we were in appeared to be some sort of servants' passageway, built without windows and with a ceiling so low that I was forced to stoop. Every so often, a door would lead off to the right or left into a small, empty cell.

I noticed a black cloak hanging in of the rooms so I snatched it off its wooden peg and threw it to Kiba. He regarded the item of clothing with a confused expression.

"Put it on," I hissed at him. "I've had enough of seeing too much of you."

"Seriously," Kiba shook his head. "Now you're being childish."

"You're the one walking around naked!"

"Quiet," Kiba shushed me. "Keep your voice down; we don't want them to know we're here. Look, I'll put this stupid cloak on to make you happy."

Kiba and I carried on down the corridor, him tripping on the overly-long hem of the cloak at regular intervals. The number of torches was diminishing now but I could see light ahead. A tapestry covered the end of the corridor, letting a small amount of light in from the room beyond.

I stepped forward to push the tapestry aside but Kiba put out an arm to stop me and pressed a finger against his lips. There was sound in the other room… two people talking, their voices muffled. I could distinguish Kakashi's voice but the other I had not heard before.

Kiba lead me through a door to the left, which opened onto a flight of rickety stairs. I followed him, careful to keep to the edges of the uneven steps so that no sound would be emitted. There was light at the top of the stairs and we emerged onto a walkway overlooking a grand hall.

Carefully, I peaked over the low wooden wall which separated us from the scene below. The hall was huge, as large as a cathedral with thick chiselled pillars rising up from the marble floor to support the vaulted ceiling above us.

Kakashi stood with his back to us, facing a long-haired figure reclining in an ornate chair upon a dais at the far end of the hall. The body of a black-haired boy a little younger than me lay slumped at the figure's feet.

"You came, Kakashi-kun," the seated figure said with a dark chuckle.

"Madara," Kakashi replied, standing stiffly before the vampire. "I only came because of Obito."

"I know you did," Madara said, the corners of his mouth twitching. So this was the feared Uchiha Madara I had heard of… considering his current attitude, I couldn't help but feel Sasuke's reaction had been completely superfluous but then, I had learned never to judge by appearances. In this new world, that was a fatal mistake.

"Give him back."

Madara laughed. "You can walk away with his body right now if you so wish."

"I take it you are about to offer me an alternative?"

The vampire unfolded his legs and raised himself from his chair, stepping over Obito. A few long strides took him to here Kakashi was standing.

"Very perceptive of you," he walked around Kakashi, taking slow steps. "The alternative is that you can listen to what I have to say and then walk out of here with Obito alive."

"You can't bring back the dead," Kakashi said, his voice lacking emotion.

"How naïve of you." Madara stopped his pacing, coming to a halt just to Kakashi's left. He leant in and whispered something in Kakashi's ear. I saw his lips move but couldn't make out the words.

Madara took a few steps back, throwing his arms out and speaking louder. "Did you not think it strange that in fifteen years, Obito's body has not decomposed at all?"

"Not really," Kakashi said in an off-hand fashion. "Considering I know as much as you."

"Oh," Madara returned to his seat. He kicked Obito's body, causing it to crumple off of the dais onto the floor. "Do humour me."

Kakashi gave a theatrical sigh. "Obito passed some of his life-force into me before he died; so long as some of that life-force remains somewhere, his body will not decay. It's pretty simple, really."

"Of course… that also means that his life-force can be transferred back into his body and therefore, revive him."

"Theoretically, yes." Kakashi admitted. "However you'd need the right conditions… it's a complicated technique to pull off and besides to do it you'd need –"

Something flew from Madara's hand, glinting in the low light. Kakashi caught it easily, closing it in his palm.

"A vial of the strongest vampire's blood," Madara finished.

Kakashi turned the vial over in his hand. "And what do you want in return?"

"Nothing," Madara's face broke into a large fanged smile. "Nothing at all."

Kiba moved beside me. "If Kakashi agrees to this," he whispered, his breath hot against me ear. "The werewolves will abandon him and the Sand hunters will no longer follow him – Madara will have free movement."

"Why?" I whispered back. "Surely he'll still be a great hunter even if he lets Madara help him."

"No, without Obito's life-force, he won't have the same abilities he has now…"

There was a loud bang as the doors to the main hall were flung open, slamming against the wall. Unfortunately, our vantage point didn't let us see whoever was there since they were directly below us.

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and back to Madara

"So you finally got here. You took your time." There was no reply from the doorway and Kakashi addressed Madara again. "I'm afraid I'll be declining your offer."

"I thought you might, Kakashi. You were always so stubborn." Madara stood once more, picking up a katana from beside the throne as he did so.

"So what now?" Kakashi adopted a defensive pose, drawing a kunai. "Weren't you going to let me leave if I wanted?"

"True," Madara murmured as he unsheathed the katana smoothly. "However I said nothing about your little pet."

The person in the doorway walked forward and I found myself looking down at the top of his spiky black-haired head. "I am not his pet," Sasuke said in his resonating voice.

Kiba pulled me back as I tried to scramble over the wooden wall. I pushed him away, standing to get a better view.

Madara attacked in an instant, his blade slicing through the air. Kakashi was immediately between him and Sasuke, the katana blocked by his kunai. I must have gaped at their speed, so fast it was hard to make out. And they expected me to be a hunter like that?

"That was unnecessary," Sasuke said, unstirred by the sudden assault. "I will handle him."

"Sasuke, no!" I shouted, unable to stop myself.

He looked up at me. "What are you doing here, dobe?"

I vaulted the wall and landed beside him. "You didn't think you'd leave me, did you? Come on, we'll fight this loser together!"

Sasuke looked at me, considering my proposal. He smiled.

"Kakashi, take Naruto and run."

"What? Sasuke, not again!" I kicked at Kakashi's shin as he tried to grab me. "I'm staying here, teme!"

"Usura tonkachi," Sasuke tutted and leapt forward, drawing his sword in mid-air and bringing its flashing blade down at Madara.


	7. Together

**Author's note: **If you haven't read the new Chapter 2, this one might be a little confusing.

* * *

Sasuke leapt forward, drawing his katana in mid-air and bringing its flashing blade down at Madara.

Madara sidestepped Sasuke's attack and jumped away, landing lightly on the dais at the other end of the room. Sasuke held his katana, ready to defend should his opponent come forward.

"Sasuke –!" my voice was cut off by Kakashi grabbing me around the waist and picking me up. "Let go of me!" I shouted at him but he ignored my demands, tuning and carrying me under his arm out into a far larger corridor than the one Kiba and I had come through; the grandeur of its architecture was emphasised by the hanging tapestries but I did not care for their art.

Twisting to look back, I could see flashes of silver as the two Uchihas' blades struck and their blurred movements as the vampires danced around each other in fluid movements of such beauty but at the same time such danger.

"Sasuke! Be careful!" I called out. Kakashi was running to the main door which now stood open from Sasuke's entrance, the wind blowing specks of rain inside. Another flash of lightning illuminated the entrance hall for a brief second.

Kakashi paused for a moment by the door. In that moment, something smashed into the hunter, sending him and me flying across the flagstones. I collided with the far wall, my skull cracking back against the stone. Kakashi rolled into a graceful defensive position, facing down the huge white wolf which had hit us.

Kiba barked at me and I understood his meaning instinctively. He was giving me time to help Sasuke. I sprinted back into the hall.

Madara had Sasuke on the ground, slumped against the corner of the dais, his weapon lying just out of reach. The tip of Madara's blade hovered millimetres from the white flesh of his neck.

Sasuke laughed, showing his fangs. How was he so carefree? Pain welled up inside me, seeing Sasuke in such danger.

"No!" I screamed, the strength of my voice hurting my throat. Madara gave me a quick glance but immediately turned back to his prey. I couldn't take that.

My feet were moving before I gave them a conscious command. Charging forward, I rushed upon Madara. He swung his katana, its edge flashing towards me.

I wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it. Or rather, I shouldn't have been.

His movements were slow, the katana producing a motion blur as is moved. I ducked to the left as the sword came around, its blade passing just over the lobe of my ear, its cold metallic edge making me shiver.

Sasuke and Madara stared at me. It took me a while to realise that I had just dodged a katana wielded by a vampire sword master who was able to fight at speeds which surpassed those which humans were capable of seeing.

"So the rumours are true," Madara smirked. "The strongest hunter is born as the son of the Fourth Hokage… Well we'll have to do something about that."

He made a sudden thrust towards my belly. I jumped back away from the katana point, seeing Sasuke take the opportunity to snatch up his sword and striking at Madara's exposed flank.

It was only a matter of luck that Madara was able to block in time, his katana already being in a good position from attacking me. He hopped back, making the third point of a triangle facing Sasuke and me.

I smiled at Sasuke and saw the slightest hint of a smile on his lips in return.

"Let's do this thing!"

"Yeah…" Sasuke agreed. "Let's do this together."

"Alright!" I glared at Madara. "We're going to wipe the floor with you – get ready for the joint Uzumaki-Uchiha offensive! This is the strength of the bond between vampire and hunter, dattebayo!"

They were both awed into silence by my speech. Eventually, Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Naruto… maybe you should let me do the speaking from now on?"

"But you never say anything," I pointed out.

"Exactly."

Madara was laughing his sinister laugh again. "You really are acting like an old couple…"

"Shut up, teme!" We said in unison.

The high vampire twirled his katana. "I say, Sasuke… have you told Naruto about our former purpose, yet?"

"I know all about that," I said, proud of myself for remembering. "You were guardians of the Demon Realm until one of you released the Kyubi."

"'One of you'?" He repeated. "Do I get no credit?"

"You… you were alive back then?" I stared at him.

"It was only fifteen years ago, but yes, I was alive. We vampires have incredible longevity. Did you not realise that Sasuke would not age with you?"

"Sasuke?!" I turned to him, the image of me growing old with him frozen in time swirling in my head.

"This isn't the time, Naruto. I promise we'll talk later," he said without taking his eyes off Madara.

"I notice, Sasuke," Madara continued, his voice echoing around the hall. "That you carry the Kusanagi sword. I wonder what would happen if that were to get in the hands of a demon…"

"It wouldn't," Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I remember when that weapon was forged, ordered by the High Council of Vampire Hunters to prevent us from having a monopoly over guardians of the gateway between realms. I take it Kakashi gave that to you? Naturally, currently it's no more than a normal blade but with demon power…"

"It would break after one usage!" Sasuke snapped.

"True but maybe one time would be enough…"

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, feeling left out of the conversation and not understanding a word.

"Don't worry about it."

"Sasuke doesn't want you knowing his secrets," Madara chuckled.

"Enough," Sasuke announced. "Naruto, take the left!"

He jumped forward and I was forced to abandon the conversation to join him in the fray. It was harder, dodging through two whirling blades, through Sasuke was careful to avoid me as much as possible. I was able to land a couple of hits on Madara before he caught me in the gut with a roundhouse kick, sending me flying.

Sasuke landed hard, hit by the same attack. His katana clattered to the ground between us.

Madara swung his katana, bringing it down at the now unarmed Sasuke. He rolled aside, with just a slight cut across his cheek but Madara was upon him again.

I ran forward, taking the fallen katana from the tiled floor, feeling its weight in my arms.

"Naruto, no!" Sasuke roared. Madara just grinned.

I struck downwards, the blade narrowly missing its target as it sliced through Madara's cloak. Sasuke dived towards me, arms outstretched.

A spark leapt from the tip of the katana to the floor, just before the two connected. As metal met ceramic, there was a deafening bang as if a bolt of lightning had struck at my feet.

The red power from before swirled in my stomach like a storm breaking through the dams in its path. It surged through my arms and crackled down the sword into the floor. I tried to pull the katana away but it was stuck as if the ground had suddenly been magnetised. Neither could I prise my fingers from the handle.

The tiles of the floor beneath me fell away from the katana point, leaving us floating over nothingness. Black wind swirled, ripping at our clothes, snatching at us.

Sasuke reached out his hand towards me, desperation on his features. He couldn't reach me though, the air buffeting him back.

"Naruto, I'm sorry!" He shouted over the rushing wind. "I'll come back for you!"

"You've said that too many times!" A teardrop detached itself from the corner of my eye and was quickly sucked into the vortex. "I'm coming with you, Sasuke!"

I saw his mouth form the words "If only that were possible" but the roar was too loud to hear them. Bright white spidery cracks spread outwards, harsh against the darkness. They ran upwards, thickening and overlapping, forming a perfect sphere of pure white around the three of us - the two lovers and the villain.

Sasuke smiled once more. I saw a flurry of my own tears float out in front of me. The noise had gone, replaced by a worse silence.

My body felt as if it were bubbling, my skin evaporating. It tingled and suddenly, the red energy exploded with such force that I was blown backwards.

Sasuke and Madara were swept away, dissolving into a thousand particles. I shouted his name as the sphere collapsed, taking my love to the Demon Realm.

I was flung aside, my hands ripped from the katana. Its blade shattered, the silver shards flying through the silent air, reflecting my tear-soaked eyes back to me.

I didn't move when I impacted against the ground. I lay there on my back, crying freely. Kakashi and Kiba ran over to me, trying to rouse me. I didn't understand what had happened but I knew I had lost Sasuke, perhaps forever.

For once, I was glad that Kakashi was there for me to wrap my arms around and sob into his shoulder, closing myself off from reality.

I felt Kakashi's body move under me as he carried me outside and the cold rain that ran down my face, mingling with my tears. Kiba came behind, Obito's body slung over his shoulder. Two other werewolves appeared beside us and trotted at Kakashi's heels until we reached a dirt path running between the trees where a black four-wheel drive was parked, its wheels half sunken into the mud. Kakashi laid me gently in the passenger seat while Kiba placed Obito across the back seats before leaving with his family.

I heard the driver's door open and close and the engine stir into life. The seat vibrated heavily as Kakashi accelerated out of the mud, the wheels spinning before finally getting a grip.

Our headlights made little impact on the darkness as we drove through the slanting rain. As my mind rushed through the night's events, I found my voice returning to me.

"Sasuke… said he'd come back for me," I managed, my voice breaking.

"It's possible," Kakashi said, though he didn't sound hopeful. I sat up in the bucket seat.

"I'm going to rescue him."

Kakashi took his eyes off the road to look at me. "Maybe you should just… trust Sasuke."

"No!" I'd had enough of waiting for him to be the hero. There was no way I wasn't going to save him this time! "Just tell me how to get to the Demon Realm."

"I don't know," Kakashi said sadly.

"Then who does?"

"Well, I guess the Council might know something but I want to keep them away from you. The only other people with the knowledge would be the vampires but there aren't any we can talk to."

I thought about it for a moment… we needed a vampire. "There's Obito!" I realised.

"I'm afraid not," Kakashi shook his head. "Madara's blood vanished into the Demon Realm like his body so there's no way to revive Obito."

"Oh…" I sunk into my seat. There were no vampires left with Obito still dead and Sasuke in a different universe along with Madara. Wait… I felt myself grinning as an idea came to me. "I'll find Itachi."


	8. Sand Siblings

**Author's note: **Sorry for the slow update - I temporarily lost the will to write (it's a form of writer's block I get occasionally) but I'm back now!

* * *

"I'll find Itachi," I announced, coming to my conclusion.

"No way," Kakashi said without even considering it.

"Why not? He's the only vampire left who can help me get to Sasuke!"

"He's also likely to kill you without a second thought."

"That's not true," I complained. "He didn't kill me last time –"

Kakashi slammed the breaks on, the four-wheel drive screeching to a halt, scattering gravel from the road. "What do you mean 'last time'?!"

"Uh…" I shrunk back into my seat, away from Kakashi. "He kind of kidnapped me and held me hostage to get Sasuke's attention but it was okay because I escaped when the mountain exploded and ran away into the forest where I found Kiba who took me to the castle which is where I met up with you so you know the rest," I said as quickly as possible, hoping Kakashi would miss the more important points.

I wasn't in luck. "Itachi kidnapped you?!"

"Hey, hey, don't get mad at me! It's not like it's my fault!"

"Oh sorry," Kakashi reclined into the contours of his seat. "If you were a hostage then that would be why he didn't harm you. If you went to him now then there is no reason for him to keep you alive."

I rolled my eyes at Kakashi's lecture; he was missing the point here. "I'm stronger than him. I wouldn't be in danger from him."

He gave me a sceptical look but sighed. "Fine. It'll take time to find Itachi though so in the mean time, you're going to have to be a good boy and train."

I stared at him. "Don't patronise me."

Kakashi put the vehicle into gear, chuckling to himself and applied his foot to the accelerator, taking us on down the unmade road. I folded my arms across my chest. I wasn't blind to his game; he'd agree now and slowly try to change my mind. Well there was no way I was going to fall for such an obvious trick.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I asked. The rising sun was reflected in the rear-view mirror as it rose behind us so I knew we were driving west but couldn't tell our destination from just that.

"The Wind Country," Kakashi replied shortly.

"Why?"

"For your training, baka. Gaara's team will teach you the basic Hunter techniques and you'll have to pick the rest up from there."

"So," I worked through the implications of this development in my head. "That means I don't have to go to school?"

Kakashi snorted. "You're not getting off that easily; you'll be going to school with Gaara."

"Damn, that's not fair."

"That's life, Naruto."

"Fine." I closed my eyes and snuggled down into my seat. "Wake me up when we get there – I'm dog tired."

I was woken by someone shaking me long before I had had a decent amount of sleep. Honestly, was it going to be impossible for me to eat or sleep until I got Sasuke back? Somehow I suspected that that was going to be the case.

"What d'ya want?" I mumbled, half opening one eye in my sleep deprived state.

"Wake up, sleepy-head," Temari grinned, her face far too close to mine for comfort. I smelt strong spices on her breath which admittedly helped me wake up.

I sat up, rubbing my jaw where it had pressed against the seat. Temari reached across me to unclip my seatbelt and pulled me out of the four-by-four. I stumbled and fell on my backside in the grainy desert sand.

Kakashi gave me a friendly wave before flooring the vehicle into reverse, spinning it around and accelerating back the way we had come.

"Charming," I muttered, standing and trying to brush the grains of sand from my trousers.

"Yeah, kid," Temari said. "That's what you get from Kakashi-san."

I looked around; the oasis settlement I had seen last time was just far enough away to be a long distance to walk. On all other sides, there was nothing but sand, though meagre clouds drifted through the bright azure sky which seemed unnaturally large, its edges touching the dunes. Temari appeared to be alone – her brothers nowhere to be seen.

"They're waiting at home," she explained, guessing at my thoughts. "Come on, it'll take us an hour to get there by foot."

"Do I have to walk all the way?" I grimaced, already exhausted.

"Of course not, dear," she smiled kindly. "Climb on my back; I'll give you a piggy-back."

"Seriously?"

"No!" She turned and stalked off in the direction of the town. I sighed and ran to catch her up.

"Why couldn't Kakashi have driven us all the way there?" That would have been the most logical thing to do.

"You should know our world is held together by uneasy truces," she told me. "The elders of Sunagakure dislike Kakashi-san – they don't approve of him allying himself with werewolves. Obviously, Gaara supports him but it would be difficult him to overrule his entire council so it's better if Kakashi doesn't come to the town."

"Wait, '_his _council'?" I repeated. "Is he important or something, then?"

"He's the blooming mayor!" Temari laughed.

"Huh?" I gaped at her. "But how come? He's still at school!"

"Yeah," Temari said as if explaining something to an idiot. "But the townsfolk need someone who can protect them from the malevolent desert spirits. Gaara's the best around, probably a rival for Kakashi-san."

"There are other spirits than vampires? And everyone knows about them?"

"Sure – they come through from the Demon Realm and we have to send them back or else destroy them." She waved her arm, gesturing at the expanse of glistening sand. "We get more here than Konoha which is why this is the best place for you to train."

"Why do they come here?" I asked. It had dawned on me that I would have to traverse the Demon Realm to save Sasuke so the more I knew about the spirits I would face there, the better.

She shrugged in reply. "Gaara thinks it's because they like the heat but Kankuro says they just want to make our lives difficult."

"And what do you think?"

"I don't know. It could be that vampires had more difficulty policing the gateway in the desert because of the light so demons converged here as an easy place to break through." She grinned, looking to me. "I guess it doesn't really matter – we just deal with them and move on."

I had many other questions with which I bombarded Temari as we walked and once she had got over her conceit, she answered quite satisfactorily. As we approached Sungakure, a battered, sand-blasted jeep drove up to us.

"Oi, sis," Kankuro shouted over the mechanical groaning of the engine. "I thought you might need a lift – I know how brats get when they have to exercise."

"Don't call me a brat!" I snapped at him.

"Don't mind him," Temari said, getting in the passenger side and gesturing for me to climb in the rear. "He acts tough but he's really not. Did you know he plays with dolls?"

"Temari!" Kankuro wailed. I laughed as I scrabbled into the back of the jeep, finding a seat atop the fuel tank.

"Come on, drive," Temari nudged his brother. "Gaara'll be waiting for us."

"I don't _play _with dolls," Kankuro muttered as he turned the vehicle in a wide semi-circle and drove back towards the town. "It's a _collection_. They're valuable figurines."

"Sure, sure," Temari giggled. "I know you don't like it when people dis your dollies."

"Don't say that," Kankuro hissed. "Not in front of the kid – I have an image to keep up, y'know."

"Sorry, little brother," Temari said, trying to stifle her laughing. Kankuro pouted and remained silent until he parked the jeep at the back of a large house in the centre of the town.

"No hotel this time?" I observed, hopping down from the back of the jeep.

"Temari wants to keep an eye on you," Kankuro sniggered, enjoying his revenge. "She didn't want you running off again."

"Laugh it up while you can," Temari smirked. "Ignore him, Naruto."

"Temari, Kanky," the red-headed Gaara called cheerfully, coming down the street, his rucksack slung over one shoulder.

Kankuro's grin was quickly replaced by dejection. "I told you not to refer to me as 'Kanky'. How's my street cred going to recover from this, huh?"

There was a distinct snicker from Temari, presumably at the thought of Kankuro having street cred. Gaara didn't seem to notice and instead drew a buff folder tied with red ribbon from his bag and held it out to his older brother.

Kankuro took it from him reluctantly and looked at the contents. "This is Uchiha Itachi's folder…"

Gaara nodded. "Go find him."

Temari ducked inside the house, trying not to laugh.

"But Gaara!" Kankuro complained. "That'll take forever! Why does it have to be me?"

"Because I'm busy with school and Temari will be helping me to train Naruto," Gaara explained. Unlike Temari, he wasn't taking any pleasure in sending Kankuro on errands but instead was purely business-like.

"Fine!" Kankuro chucked the folder into the jeep. Temari had reappeared in the doorway with a katana which Kankuro took from her before driving off down the street, honking the horn at a flock of chickens in his way.

"Kankuro will find Itachi for you," Gaara said as we went inside. It was cool and airy in the white-washed hallway. I slipped off my shoes, feeling the coarse surface of the decorative mat under my feet.

"You'll be sleeping in here," Temari said, showing me a small but comfortable guest bedroom on the ground floor. "I'll get you some new clothes tomorrow."

"But I like these ones!"

Temari made a small noise in her throat. "True but… to be honest, they smell." She wrinkled her nose.

I sniffed them. She had a point; I had been wearing them for three days and they'd been through a lot – baked in heat, plastered by sand, and then soaked through with rain. "Alright," I acquiesced. "But I like orange!"

Temari dug out some of Gaara's old clothes for the time being and I joined her and her brother for dinner once I had changed. We ate some sort of tough but tasty spiced meat in a light salad, which Gaara wolfed down happily.

It seemed that Kakashi had phoned ahead to organise everything while I had been asleep. I would be going to school with Gaara for the next couple of weeks and train in the evenings until Kankuro returned with information on Itachi's whereabouts. If truth be told, I really wasn't looking forward to attending a strange new school but it would be worth it to learn as much as possible about Hunting.

I cleared my plate, except for the salad of course. Salad isn't real food.

"That was delicious," I said to Temari who blushed.

"It's Gaara's favourite," she replied, waving away the compliment. "Salted tongue."

Quite suddenly, I felt nauseous.


	9. Desert Demons

**Author's note: **My inner-geek seems to have taken over when I wrote the first part of this chapter but don't worry, it's under control. Now I just have to worry about my outer-geek… Anyway, on a more important note, I've started referring to a katana's scabbard as a saya which (I hope) is the correct Japanese term. Oh and look – chapter titles!

* * *

For once, I felt awake in school. It didn't help me understand maths though. Gaara leaned over to me and made a few corrections to my work.

"That should be to the power two," he explained. "When you divide, you want to subtract the indices."

I scratched my head. "So what was with adding the indices or whatever?"

"That was multiplication," Gaara sighed. "You're really not getting this, are you?"

I shook my head, trying to clear some of the confusions; wasn't I supposed to be training to fight demons? Mathematics would be fine without me but I knew I was never going to be fine without Sasuke.

"Don't worry," Gaara was saying. "It's double chemistry next so that won't be too bad."

"Last time I did chemistry," I told him. "I accidentally blew up my flask."

"Okay… in that case just watch what I do and don't touch anything," he grinned at me.

As it turned out, chemistry wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. Gaara and I managed a pretty decent magnesium salt which Baki-sensei said was the highest yield in the class and Gaara was pleased to have a lab partner for once.

At lunch, I sat with Gaara, avoiding the food. Whatever was in Gaara's sandwich, it smelt too strong to be anything a sane person would eat.

The clothes Temari had brought for me fitted pretty well and I was glad to see she had retained the orange. I now wore an orange top decorated with my favourite red swirl pattern and trousers which were tied at the ankle to stop sand getting in. My outfit was finished off with a light-weight white scarf, apparently to cover my mouth if I were ever to get caught in a sandstorm. She had also got me a coat which I had opted not to wear, considering the temperature.

The bell rang for the afternoon period and Gaara and I stood to go to lessons. Just as we entered the building, Baki-sensei ran up to us.

"Sorry guys," he said, breathless. "Temari's outside waiting for you. I'll notify your teachers but make sure you catch up on the work, alright?"

Gaara nodded. "Thanks, sensei." He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the school via reception. A large red SUV was parked right outside, blocking the school entrance. It was in better condition that Kankuro's vehicle but with more optional extras such as the huge flood lamps screwed to the roof.

Inside, Temari was tapping her fingers on the wheel impatiently. She had her music turned up loud so that the beat was pulsing through the air; the people passing by gave her looks ranging from disgust to respect. Gaara climbed into the passenger seat beside her, leaving me to wedge myself in the back amongst cases of assorted weaponry.

"I take it this is big if you took me out of school?" Gaara asked.

"It's not that bad," she said, swinging the vehicle in a lazy arc, only one hand on the steering wheel. "It's just a one-tail but without Kankuro, it could get tricky if I try to handle it on my own."

Gaara twisted in his seat. "Could you pass me my katana, Naruto?"

"What does 'one-tail' mean?" I asked, handing over the sword.

He unsheathed this weapon, inspecting the blade. "We designate the strength of demons according to how many tails they have. Tailless demons are easy to deal with but if you're up against something with seven-plus tails, it's probably too late to do anything."

Temari slammed the brakes on just beyond the town wall. "It's moving fast from the south-east," she announced, turning off the ignition. She came around to the back to search through her equipment. There was a click as Gaara returned his katana to its saya.

"I'll go on ahead," he said and sprinted off in the direction Temari had indicated. I could just make out a cloud of dust rising from a point maybe a kilometre away.

"What do I do?" I asked Temari. She handed me a leather case which I opened quickly, my hands shaking with the excitement of the upcoming fight. Disappointingly, a pair of binoculars slid out.

"You watch from here," she said and dashed after her brother.

I glared after her. How on earth was I supposed to train by just watching through a pair of binoculars? If only Kankuro would return with news of Itachi – then at least I'd have something to do.

I leant against the bodywork of the SUV but jumped off quickly as I remembered that extreme heat makes it uncomfortable to sit on metal. Pressing the binoculars to my eyes, I scanned the dunes, picking out the column of dust swirling around a hazy creature.

It took a few adjustments of the lenses to focus in properly on the scene. Gaara stood in front of the demon, his katana drawn while his sister approached carefully from behind. The creature itself seemed to be some sort of goat with long twisting horns and a pointed tail swishing through the air.

The two siblings attacked at the same moment, the sun glinting off their blades, with the one-tail sandwiched between them. For a moment it seemed like their attack would hit but the demon reared on its back legs. A forked tongue shot out of its mouth, whipping the air.

Gaara made another strike but was caught by the demon's tail, knocking his katana from his grasp. He stumbled backwards.

Though it was hard to tell through a pair of binoculars, it looked as if the demon's tail had split down the centre, forming two separate tails.

Taking her cue from Gaara, Temari made another assault but was thrown backwards as each tail divided again. The demon rose into the air and vanished.

Was that it? Had they won?

"I made it…" I spun to see who had spoken. Sasuke was resting against the bonnet; he laughed breathlessly. "I escaped from the Demon Realm."

"What? How?"

He staggered forward, reaching out for me. "Naruto… I'll explain but first… I need to drink…"

I stared at his face; dusty, bruised and strained with exhaustion but still beautiful. His long, pale fingers hooked around the cloth of my scarf and snatched it away, exposing my neck.

His head snapped forward, eyes red with desire, his fangs slicing easily through my flesh. The blood flowed and he sucked at it noisily.

"Sasuke…" I said gently.

He ignored me, still drinking. When the original incision healed, he gashed my neck again and kept drinking, his lips glued to my neck. My head started feeling light. I breathed in.

"You're not Sasuke!" I pushed him away. He took a few steps back, wiping his mouth but leaving a sinister grin behind on my Sasuke's features.

"What do you mean, Naruto?" he asked, the bewilderment in his voice not matched by his expression. "I'm your boyfriend, remember?"

Boyfriend… that word, _boyfriend_. So sweet yet, coming from these false lips, it was a most traitorous lie.

"You smell wrong." I reached through the open window of the SUV and picked up the first katana that came to hand.

The imposter laughed. His skin shimmered, reflecting the full spectrum of colours and a few which seemed to go beyond it, before settling again in a different complexion.

The figure in front of me was a perfect reproduction of myself; like looking in a mirror except the right way around.

I drew the katana, tossing the saya aside and readying my weapon. It took me a second look to realise the katana was made wrong – it seemed shorter than a katana should be but there was no time to exchange it. My clone dived forward, slamming me against the door. I shouted out as pain ran through my back.

The demon changed its shape again, becoming skeletal, its flesh covered by fish-like scales. Beady black eyes swivelled in their sockets as it put its claw-like hands around my neck, squeezing the air from my throat.

I thrust the short sword forwards, into the creature's belly. It looked down with a comedic look of surprise and laughed. One of the four tails curled around the handle and pulled it out with a sickening squelch, leaving the demon unharmed.

I found myself snarling in the demon's face. The red power I had found in the cave came easily now, bursting from my body in a shockwave. The demon hopped back as if it had received an electric shock.

It crouched, frothing at the mouth and clawing the air. Leathery wings, slick with mucus emerged from its back. With two flaps of the bat-like appendages, the demon took to the air.

It would be coming for me. I closed my eyes. The power was still there, behind my eyelids. I let it swirl, collecting in little whirlpools. If I could force the energy into a single vortex…

My eyes snapped open, seeing the demon rush forward. I raised my hands, funnelling a concentrated blast of red power straight at my foe.

The energy caught it in the chest, shattering its ribs and sending it tumbling backwards through the air. It hit the sand, still spinning, and rolled to a stop a stone's throw away, lightly smoking.

My heart beat fast, my body dizzy from blood loss and my brain reeling from lack of oxygen. I fell forward and blacked out.

There were voices when I woke up.

"Well I assumed it was a one-tail! How was I to know it could shape-shift?" I heard Temari's voice say, the defensive tone evident in her speech. There was silence for a few moments before Gaara replied.

"It looks like they're getting smarter…"

Temari made a shushing sound. "I think he's waking up."

I opened my eyes gradually, squinting in the bright light. Gaara and Temari peered at me with concern. I was laid out on my bed in Gaara's house, the deformed katana on my bedside table.

"What is up with that thing?" I asked Temari. "It's too short."

"That's a kodachi; it's supposed to be that length." She sighed. "You can have a standard length katana when you choose your weapon."

"I get to choose a sword?"

She nodded. "As I see it you're going to get into trouble so you might as well have something to defend yourself."

"In that case," I said. "I want the kodachi!"

"Then it's yours," she smiled.

"Thanks." I turned to her brother. "I have a question."

"Go on," he prompted.

"That demon, the shape shifter. Can it read my mind?"

"Not that I know of," he frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"Because it turned into Sasuke and if it didn't know what I was thinking, well, doesn't that mean that it must have met Sasuke to know what he looks like? Does that mean Sasuke's okay and waiting for me?"

"You know," Gaara said with a smile. "I think it might. Naruto, something's changing in the Demon Realm; though we know four-tails are able to shape-shift, we've never seen them impersonate a lesser demon – they're too arrogant for that. Honestly, the sooner you can get there to find out what's happening, the better."

Temari tugged at Gaara's sleeve and whispered something in his ear and he followed her out the room. I picked up my new kodachi and turned it over, inspecting it properly.

I had heard what Temari had whispered:

"Don't encourage him; you know the danger."


	10. Revelations

"I'm not doing this," I told them, pushing the homework away. Gaara looked up from his work, already on the fifth question.

"You have to do your homework, Naruto," he said.

"Why?" I crossed my arms.

We were sitting at the round dinner table in Gaara's house, having come home from my fifth day at school with a large pile of maths questions to work through. It was ridiculous anyway, having to solve a multitude of practically identical quadratic equations when I wasn't even a proper student!

"Why do I have to go to school? Why can't I stay home and train?"

Temari had been teaching me the basics of hunting each day after school. We had progressed quickly from simple defence to offensive moves and were now into the more complex techniques involving the manipulation of the latent energy within living beings, something that Temari called 'chakra'.

"Because training relies just as much on mental development as the physical aspects," Gaara said, clearly fishing for reasons.

"Maths won't help me save Sasuke! This is useless!" I stood up, my chair crashing to the ground. "All the time I waste here, Sasuke could be getting further and further away!"

"Naruto," Temari said from the doorway. "You're getting worked up. I appreciate that you want to go after Sasuke as soon as possible but remember that you can't move until we've found Itachi."

"Is that ever going to happen?" I snapped at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Is Kankuro going to find Itachi or is he just going to stay in a hotel for a few weeks, come back and say, 'sorry, couldn't find him anywhere – hard luck, Naruto'?"

"And why would he do that?" Temari asked, somewhat stiffly.

"Because you don't want me finding Itachi! Neither does Kakashi – none of you want me to find him because he'll help me get to the Demon Realm!"

"Naruto, we all support you –" Temari began but I cut her off.

"I heard what you said after I fought the four-tails! You said it was too dangerous for me to go there; that Gaara shouldn't encourage me!"

She narrowed her eyes and glared me. Maybe I had gone too far but I needed to know their true intentions.

She sighed and gestured for me to follow her out into the backyard where we had been training. I trailed after her, watching as she took a number of long strides across the yard and turned to face me. I took up my usual position roughly three metres from her.

We bowed to each other in the fashion she had taught me as Gaara shuffled out in his fluffy pink slippers, carrying my kodachi. Temari's katana was already at her waist.

"What are we doing today?" I asked her.

"No lesson," she smirked as I took my kodachi and slid the saya through my belt. "Attack me."

"What?"

"I want to see how much you've learnt. Come on, attack me."

I nodded and grasped the handle of my weapon, sliding my feet around into an offensive position. Temari mirrored my movements exactly, taking up an identical stance.

This was battojutsu, the most advanced form of attack I had been taught, using the power from drawing the weapon to immediately strike the opponent in the same motion as unsheathing.

It was fast, deadly and Temari's favourite technique. Moreover, at this stage, her longer blade gave her an advantage – I would have to get considerably closer to strike.

The sounds of the bustling town were muffled by the high mud walls so that teacher and student could have been in their own isolated little world.

We both remained still. If I waited to spot her first sign movement, it would be too late; I had to sense her intent.

A single drop of sweat trickled down my brow. My eye twitched, dried out by a combination of the dry air and my refusal to blink.

My skin tingled. Temari was taking a long time to make her move…

I ducked forward suddenly as Temari drew her katana, its blade swishing cleanly over my head. In the same movement, I drew my kodachi. Temari's attack and my step forward had brought me in range.

She somersaulted cleanly over my head, twisting in midair so as to land facing me.

"You missed," she grinned.

"Look again," Gaara told her. She glanced down to see where the tip of my kodachi had cut a clean slice through her shirt. "Naruto's progressed fast to better you at battojutsu."

"Yes, that's exactly the problem," she said, not looking at me. I cleared my throat.

"If you guys are going to discuss me, could you at least involve me in the conversation?"

Gaara patted the empty space beside him on the bench he was sitting on. I sheathed my kodachi, bowed to Temari and took the seat he had proffered.

"Would you mind if I told you a little about my past?" He asked me.

"Uh… go ahead."

"The Council of Hunters was never happy about the situation with vampires; they didn't like the idea of entrusting the safety of their world to a species that lived on the blood of humans."

"I think I've heard this before. They made Sasuke's sword to try to control the gateways by themselves."

"That's part of it," Gaara nodded. "But that was not the only thing they tried. Vampires were not the only creatures to be able to pass between worlds. The demons are also capable of doing so but they are impulsive, selfish creatures that cannot be tamed."

"But," Temari said, taking over the story. "The council thought of a way to control the demons. The answer was to create a sort of human-demon cross."

"They bred with demons?"

"Not quite. Instead, they developed a method to seal a demon inside a human host. They went through a number of humans, sealing a relatively stable one-tail within them, though all but one of the hosts was unable to deal with its presence and went mad."

"Eventually," Gaara continued. "They sealed the demon inside my body."

I must have gaped at him for some time before realising my mouth was open and closing it.

"They… did that to you?"

"Yes."

I swallowed. "Did it work?"

"Not as they intended," he sighed. "I cannot control the gateways between Realms, but I am able to use some of the demon's energy."

"So what does that have to do with me?"

Gaara turned to his sister. "Would you mind getting us some drinks?"

"Sure, I need to change this top anyway," she replied and skipped off back inside. When we were alone, Gaara turned to me.

"Do you remember hearing about the nine-tailed demon that Madara set on the human world and which your father gave his life to defeat?" He asked me.

"No, I think I forgot about that," I answered sarcastically.

Gaara smiled at me for a moment before turning serious again. "The Kyubi had too much energy to be sent back to the Demon Realm by anyone but an immensely powerful vampire and Namikaze Minato did not have the strength to destroy it entirely."

"So what happened?"

"He put it somewhere safe where it couldn't cause harm," Gaara grinned. I stared at him blankly. "He sealed it in you, Naruto."

"What? You mean I have a demon inside me?"

"Not just any old demon; the Kyubi is the strongest demon we know of. Its energy is the reason why you are able to learn so fast. It is also due to the volume of energy that you were not sucked into the Demon Realm with Madara and Sasuke – it simply wouldn't fit through the crack."

"Madara said something about demon energy and that sword…" I bit my lip. "This demon… it's the reason Sasuke is trapped. I'm to blame for everything."

Gaara didn't answer, confirming my suspicion. It was my fault.

"Naruto, I still believe you can get him back."

I glared at him, my eyes stinging. Even if he was telling the truth, what difference did that make to anything?

"However," he reached out and took my hand, holding it in both of his. "How far would you go for Sasuke?"

"As far as it takes," I set my jaw.

"Would you go to the ends of the Earth?" He asked.

"Yes."

"What about beyond the edge, over into nothingness?"

"Yes."

"How about into hell itself?"

"Gaara, get to the point. I'd do anything; I'd go anywhere. So what's the big 'but' you've been working up to?"

He sighed. "Getting into the Demon Realm is plausible – after all, that is where the Kyubi wants to be…"

"But…?"

"Getting out is going to be a problem. That's the danger Temari was talking about; the Kyubi won't want to leave to return to the surface."

"Oh." It was one of those situations where there is literally no response that can be made and so, I was grateful when Temari returned with a tray of lemonade.

"Temari," Gaara said, neither his face nor his tone betraying anything from our conversation. "Now Naruto knows about the demon inside him, I think he should learn meditation so he can control its power."

Temari made a noise of consent, sipping from her glass and instructed me to sit cross legged on the ground.

"Place your hands like this," she told me, placing her hands palm-down on her thighs, thumb and forefinger touching. I did as she said. "Good, now close your eyes and relax. Take deep breaths and count to ten."

One… two… three… four…

"When you get to ten, start over." She continued to explain meditation to me, directing me to acknowledge thoughts passing through my head but not to chase after them. My sense of the red demonic power within me was heightened when my mind was emptied. It tingled over my skin.

After the past few days, it was a relief not to have to think anything. Pretty soon, I was able to tune out everything around me; Temari and Gaara could have walked off and left me and I wouldn't have known.

There was nothing and I was content for that to be the case.

"Naruto." A voice, not Gaara's or Temari's but someone different yet familiar. Itachi. I almost opened my eyes, imagining him standing in front of me before I realised that the voice was within my own head.

"Naruto," he said again. "I hear you've been trying to find me."

I thought 'yes' and he continued, understanding me. "You want to get to the Demon Realm and I'll help you. There is, though, a single condition which you must fulfil to gain my services."

I was about to ask aloud what the condition was but Itachi read my thoughts once more.

"In two days time, the Council of Hunters will meet. The head of their organisation is a man named Danzo. He has something of mine; a signet ring inscribed with the word 'scarlet'. Retrieve it and bring it to me – we will talk at length then."

Itachi's consciousness faded away. I opened my eyes, unsure whether I had been dreaming or if Itachi had really been in my mind. Considering his master of genjutsu, that was a possibility.

Both Gaara and Temari were looking at me strangely.

"Are you alright?" Temari asked, pressing her fingers to my neck. "You were breathing fast and your pulse's right up."

I had two days. If I was going to work for Itachi, it was essential that Temari and Gaara suspected nothing.

"I'm fine," I lied.


	11. The Council

**Author's note: **it's been ages since the last update but I do have an excuse involving bunnies. Anyway, there is a very minor manga spoiler here and for anyone who doesn't know, a tanto is the type of dagger that Sai has on his back.

* * *

As it happened, my luck was in, though I couldn't be sure how long it would last. Gaara, as the head of the Sand Hunters would be attending the meeting of the Hunter's Council and it hadn't taken much effort to convince him to allow me to tag along in order to increase my knowledge of the Hunter's world.

Or at least, that was what he thought I was intending to do.

Temari had dropped us at the station in the next town after a long, uncomfortable ride through sweltering heat which was accentuated in the back of her red SUV, and now Gaara and I sat opposite each other on a rickety train heading north.

The old steam engine chugged through clouds of dust, billowing black smoke from its funnel which permeated the carriages along with the sand. With every jolt on the buckling tracks, the entire train rattled as if it were about to fall apart. Our suitcases leapt about on the wire luggage rack overhead.

I gripped me kodachi tighter.

Gaara chuckled. "You'll get used to it," he said calmly.

I gave him a weak grimace in reply. "How long until we get there?"

"It's about an hour and a half on this train. We swap at one of the border towns and head westwards for about an hour and from there it'll be about a half-hour to the meeting place." He told me, listing off the stages of the journey on his fingers.

I looked out the window, squinting against the glare of the sun. The glass was too battered to give much of a reflection of my face but I could make out my blue eyes, just about.

What was I doing? If I went through with this, I'd never be able to return to Gaara and Temari's hospitality. I doubted even Kakashi would take me back after this betrayal, no matter how much he disliked the Council.

But this was for Sasuke; the one person for whom I'd do anything.

"Are you alright?" Gaara asked. "You don't look so well."

"It's the heat," I muttered.

The train limped on like an injured animal for two more hours until we finally reached the town where Gaara had said we were changing trains. Another train wasn't due for another three-quarters of an hour but thankfully, the air was cooler here and the settlement significantly more civilised.

I found a ramen stand in the central street and ate there while we waited. Gaara, meanwhile, went in search of a butcher's store to make him gizzard pie, the thought of which would have made me vomit if it weren't for the all-healing scent of ramen wafting from the stand.

By the time we got going again, it was past noon and moving into the hottest part of the day which I usually spent in a hammock under the shade of the two palm trees in Gaara's back yard rather than stuck in a sweaty, enclosed train.

I had assumed the more modern-looking train would be more comfortable but the steel carriages were like furnaces on wheels.

I pushed open one of the windows to try to get some air, though I was disappointed that the breeze that blew in was almost as hot as the air inside the carriage.

"So where is this meeting?" I asked Gaara, sitting back in my seat.

"A place called the Land of Iron," he replied. The name had a sense of grandeur to it, causing me to picture snow-capped mountains and huge castles.

We lapsed back into silence for most of the rest of the journey which was how Gaara preferred to be and made it easier for me to conceal my thoughts.

"What do you plan to do when we get there?" Gaara broke the silence. I almost choked; how could he know?

"What… what do you mean?" I feigned innocence as best I could.

He frowned. "I mean you can't attend the meeting but is there anything you want to do or anyone you want to meet?"

"Oh…" I relaxed, though my heart was still racing.

"Are you sure you're not unwell?"

"No, I'm fine," I assured him. "There is someone I'd like to meet though… his name's Danzo."

Gaara raised his eyebrows but didn't respond for a good few minutes. I started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze again.

"I'll see what I can do," he eventually said. "But Danzo isn't the sort of man to be approached without good reason… I take it this is about Sasuke?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Well be careful about what you say," he warned me. "I don't think Danzo will want you to bring him back but we may be able to spin him a yarn about exploring the Demon Realm… he won't permit it but you may get some theoretical information."

"Theoretical is better than nothing," I grinned.

Gaara nodded. "But like I said, Naruto, be mindful of what you say to these people."

"Who else is on the Council?"

"Well, there's Danzo and I who you know of already," Gaara answered. "The rest are mostly the older generation of Hunters like Danzo. They're a little stuck in their ways and still out for revenge.

"The most notable members are two from your country; Homura and Koharu and a pair from the Wind Country, Chiyo and Ebizo. Together with Danzo, they form the core of the Council. Their meetings are chaired by a man named Mifune."

"So what about you?" I asked him.

"I'm the youngest and newest member of the Council. Jiraiya once sat with us but he left after a difference of opinion with Danzo."

"If there are so many skilled Hunters there, I imagine security must be pretty tight," I observed as casually as I could.

"The Land of Iron has its own security," Gaara told me. "And Danzo has his personal bodyguards who follow him everywhere. Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering," I muttered, avoiding his suspicious gaze.

Fortunately, the train pulled into the station before Gaara could find any more grounds to distrust me. We collected our bags from the luggage rack and stepped down onto the bustling platform.

At last, we had arrived somewhere where the temperature and climate were inhabitable. It was just a pity about the huge crowds milling around the equally large labyrinth of a train station.

We pushed our way through the mass of people, holding our belongings tightly and by some miracle, we were able to escape from the station and find the taxi rank.

I didn't pay attention to the cars lined up there, though; beyond the taxis was the city, a gigantic metropolis, crammed with people and buildings. Gaara called to me from the back of a cab and I hurried to get in beside him.

"The Land of Iron Hotel," Gaara announced when the taxi dropped us off outside a towering glass building.

"I was expecting… I don't know… caves or a castle or something…" I muttered, craning my neck to look up at the building.

"Who meets in a _cave_?" Gaara laughed.

It seemed that a large proportion of the hotel had been taken over by the Council; we had our passes inspected by two muscular bouncers at the entrance before passing through into a reception area full of mingling Hunters.

Gaara took me by the arm and lead me over to where an incredibly aged woman was slumped in one of the leather chairs.

"Naruto, this is Chiyo-sama," he introduced me. I gave her a look before leaning over to ask Gaara a quiet question.

"Is she alright?" I whispered. "It doesn't look like she's breathing…"

Suddenly, the old woman jumped up with a shriek.

"Ha!" She yelled triumphantly. "You thought I was dead but I wasn't really! I was only playing dead!"

"Very good, Chiyo-sama," Gaara chuckled.

"Ah, Gaara-kun," she said, composing her face into a serious expression. "I was meaning to have a word. Have you heard Danzo's latest proposal?"

"I take it it's not good," Gaara lowered his voice.

She shook her head sadly. "He intends to propose a move to destroy all demons on sight."

"Without trying to return them to their Realm first?" Gaara's eyes widened.

Chiyo made an affirmative noise. "I expect you will vote against it?"

"Of course. Is Ebizo onside?"

"Yes, but I have a feeling the others will side with Danzo."

"I will do all I can, Chiyo-sama," Gaara said, peering over the heads of people. "Where has Ebizo got to, anyway?"

"He's over by the buffet," Chiyo smiled. "They have your favourite salted tongue."

"Excellent. Naruto, stay here." He squeezed over to the buffet table where he began speaking to an old man with very long eyelashes. I stood awkwardly next to Chiyo, not saying anything or looking at her.

After a while, she elbowed me in the ribs.

"What's in your heart, young man?" She squinted at me.

"Uh… what do you mean?"

"You're deceptive," she said. "The question is, for what purpose?"

"I…"

"If you intend to go after Danzo, you should watch your step always. Even the safest paths can conceal danger." She leaned in close to me so her liver-spots were hugely magnified.

"How did you know I was after Danzo?" I whispered.

"I didn't," she shrugged. "Just a lot of people are so it was an easy guess."

I felt myself blushing at how easily I had given myself away but this old lady didn't seem to mind. "Can you help me?"

"No," she shook her head. "It is too much of a risk, even for me. I suggest you take your luggage up to your room and not go anywhere near the top-floor suite."

Following her advice, I took Gaara's and my bags to the elevator. The top-floor suite… Chiyo had definitely given me a theatrical wink as she told me not to go there. I chucked both bags onto the bed in my modest room.

I didn't know how long it would take Gaara to notice I was missing but this was as good an opportunity as any. I rummaged through my suitcase and dug out the coat Temari had brought me – a high-collared red jacket with a black flame motif around the hem.

I slipped it on as I dashed back to the elevator carrying my kodachi and pressed the button for the twentieth floor.

The lift doors opened onto a practically identical corridor with no suite in sight. I attached the saya of my weapon to my belt and took a look around.

Maybe the rooms were a little plusher here but Chiyo had definitely said… had she been joking then, too? I was about to give up and return to the elevator when I saw a door without a room number.

I knocked lightly and when no one answered, pushed it open just a little way, surprised to find it unlocked. Behind it was a spiral staircase leading up to a floor not marked on the elevator.

Strange… if this was Danzo's suite, where was his special security?

I climbed the stairs, keeping low and pressing myself against the wall. There was no movement anywhere as I stepped onto the polished wood floor of the spacious suite.

The lights came on as soon as my foot touched the ground. I froze where I was, opposite a bandaged man occupying a high-backed chair. He glared at me over his steepled fingers.

"Of all the people who have tried to assassinate me," he said. "You are by far the worst."

He raised his hand in a casual gesture and two bodyguards, one in black and the other in white, stepped forward.

"Kill him," Danzo instructed them. Each pulled a tanto from the holster on their back and advanced on me.


	12. Itachi's Ring

The two bodyguards advanced on me, their tantos poised to strike against me. Judging by their form, these guys were half-decent fighters, moving in silently for a swift, easy kill. One wore a mask over the top half of his head giving him a sinister look while the other was more thick-set and had his hair tied back in a ponytail.

"It really takes two against one, does it?" I smirked.

Neither replied but the masked one shifted into an attack position. I pulled back my coat and placed my hand over the hilt of my kodachi. It was just a case of which one would make the first move.

The ponytailed guard's movement caught my eye as he leapt forward, striking downwards at my right side.

An effortless draw of my kodachi sent his tanto spinning across the room. I brought my leg around to kick the second guard in the stomach.

It wasn't enough for him though. I blocked his attack but the first came at me again with just his fists.

There wasn't enough time to bring my kodachi around. I raised my palm and hit the assailant with a concentrated ball of demon power.

He slammed back against the window, shattering it, and fell forwards, unconscious. His partner drew back.

"Well, well," Danzo clapped slowly. "Not so useless after all."

He stood up, unbending gracefully, his face half-obscured by shadow. His hand reached down and took hold of the sheathed katana beside his chair.

"I will have to deal with you myself."

I returned my kodachi to its saya, not letting my eyes leave the old man.

"I have no intention of fighting you," I told him. "I came for an item that you have."

Danzo paused in the motion of drawing his weapon and considered me with a stony-faced expression.

"What item would that be?" He glared.

"A signet ring, inscribed with the word 'scarlet'."

The Hunter grunted and let his sword slide back into its saya. He slipped a bandaged hand into his jacket and removed a ring threaded through a long silver chain.

"Is this what you are looking for?" He asked, holding the ring up for me to see. It dangled from its length of chain; a silver ring inlaid with red and marked with the kanji for 'scarlet'.

"That's it." I reached out for it but he moved it away from me, holding it out of my reach.

"Why do you want Itachi's ring?" He asked.

"Please, this is important," I put my hands together, pleading with him.

There was a brief knock at the door. "Danzo-sama, is everything okay? The summit is about to begin," a voice called from the other side. There was a few moments silence before footsteps departed.

Danzo closed his fist around the ring. "Excuse me; I have a meeting to attend."

He walked past me. Though I didn't turn around, I could hear him descend the stairs.

"If you won't give it to me," I warned him. "I'll have to take it from you."

"Try," Danzo cackled. "If you dare."

I spun, summoning all the energy I could muster and sent it in a single blast at the stairwell. The wood of the steps was stripped away by the red frenzy which ripped through everything in its path, disintegrating a large section of the wall.

Danzo landed lightly as the dust cleared, unscratched. Around him, rubble fell from the ceiling and crumbled away to the floors below. My attack had opened up the entire corridor as if the walls had been made of nothing more than paper.

I was aware of several more bodyguards circling me but keeping well back in the shadows.

"If I wasn't in a hurry," Danzo smirked. "I'd kill you."

With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the ring to me and turned on his heel to stride off down the corridor.

I slipped the ring into my pocket. There were heavy running footsteps below; I'd caused slightly more damage than I had intended. A group of security guards wearing body armour clambered over the rubble and Danzo's men were closing in cautiously.

This really wasn't the time for a fight. I turned and jumped through the shattered window, into the evening air.

I landed atop a neighbouring building and ran across the rooftops until I could find a suitable spot to drop down onto the street.

The sirens of a police car roared from a nearby road. Were they after me or was their presence a coincidence? In this noisy city, how was I supposed to tell which sounds were mundane and which heralded danger?

I leapt from the roof I was on, landing on the back of a lorry. I gripped tight to the fabric that covered its trailer and kept my body low. Behind me, I could see more of security guards running along the pavement in searching desperately for the intruder.

It looked like returning to the hotel was out of the question; the whole place would be in uproar. I swung myself off my ride as it stopped at a red light and ran across the road and let myself into a restaurant.

I was pretty sure I hadn't been spotted but to be sure, I chose a secluded table at the back and hid behind a menu. A pair of guards ran past the window, glancing in as they passed but not seeing me.

"Uh, excuse me," a blushing waitress said timidly. "Are you Uzumaki Naruto-san?"

That was strange, how did a complete stranger know my name?

"Yes, I'm Naruto… why?"

"I… Someone left this for you," she said, holding out a sealed brown envelope.

"Who was it?" I asked, taking the envelope from her.

"I don't know… a scary-looking man with black hair tied back," she stammered. The description definitely matched Itachi but how had he known I'd come in here?

I ordered a bowl of ramen, allowing the relieved-looking waitress to scurry away while I opened the letter. Inside it was a single sheet of paper marked with the words 'inside the museum, midnight'.

Midnight… that was some time to wait but at least it would give my pursuers time to give up on the chase. I folded the note and slipped it in my pocket. There were nearly five hours of ramen eating ahead of me.

Though the sun had set by the time I arrived outside the closed museum, the entire city was still lit by neon and sodium. According to my waitress, this was the main museum in the city but still, it was a very open meeting place, right in the centre of the town.

Unlike the rest of the city, this museum seemed old; built of white stone with a wide flight of steps leading up to its main entrance, flanked by pillars and columns. A poster outside advertised the current Samurai exhibition.

I slipped quietly around the back. Itachi had said 'inside'. There were no windows on the side of the building whatsoever but it looked like there were ornate glass skylights on the roof.

After Temari's training, it was a simple matter to scale the stone wall and steal across the tiles. Unfortunately, the skylight was locked with the catch on the inside.

I sighed; unless I wanted to alert the entire city's police force, I needed to be stealthy here. I crouched beside the glass and pressed two fingers against it, channelling the demon energy into it, gradually heating up the molecules.

The glass melted away from my touch and I was able to slip my hand inside and release the catch.

I dropped down into the museum. Immediately I was surrounded by figures, partially hidden in the shadows. Without pause, I drew my kodachi and struck at the nearest.

Glass shattered and a manikin dressed in the garb of a samurai tumbled headfirst from its display case. I breathed a sigh of relief – none of the warriors around me were real.

"Except for me," Itachi said, stepping forward.

"Did you read my mind?" I asked, creeped out by the strange illusionist's abilities as usual. He glided over to me and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"Were you able to get it?" He asked, holding his hand out for the ring. I placed it on his palm.

"There you go. Now it's your turn to honour the deal."

"Hm?" He nuzzled my neck gently. "My brother really does have good taste in guys…"

"Itachi," I broke free of his grasp and turned to look at him. "I need to get to the Demon Realm, now." Sasuke was close, I could feel it.

"Oh of course," Itachi smiled as he snapped the chain and slipped the ring onto his right ring finger. "I'll open a gateway for you as promised, but first…"

He stepped forward, taking my chin between his thumb and forefinger and raising it slightly. "Hold still." He leaned in and kissed me.

I pushed him away and wiped my mouth with my sleeve. "What the heck are you doing?!" I shouted at him.

Itachi laughed. "You're so naive, Naruto," he said. "Did you never think to ask why I did what I did; why I destroyed my own clan?"

"That's in the past. You need to help me rescue Sasuke, now!"

"It's not in the past as much as you think." Itachi walked over to one of the displays and looked up at one of the masked samurai. "Sasuke would like you to think that the Uchiha were one big happy family but no."

"What do you mean?"

He turned his gaze to me. "Vampires are individualistic. They will always work in their own self-interest, never in the interest of others." He drew his fist back and smashed the display case. "For me, I found that working with the Council was advantageous."

"What?" I took a few steps back, my feat crunching on broken glass. Itachi took the samurai's katana and weighed it in his hands.

"Don't act so shocked, Naruto," he said. "I was working on the Council's orders when I wiped out the vampires."

"You!" I pointed at him as I backed off. "You never had any intention of helping me, did you?"

"You know, you and Sasuke would never have worked out." The katana slid cleanly out of its saya in Itachi's hands; he twirled the blade. "Vampires don't age like humans and sooner or later, he would have moved on to a new partner when you got too old… assuming he hadn't drained you of blood before then."

"Teme!" The demon energy swirled with my growing anger. "That's not going to happen!"

"Correct," Itachi said as a black haired boy entered the room behind me. I saw the tanto on his back, marking him as one of Danzo's men.

"You're still working for them," I snarled.

"If you choose not to go after Sasuke," Itachi murmured, resting the blunt side of the katana against his shoulder. "Then I won't have to take you to Danzo."

"Like that's going to happen!" I sprung forward, striking with my kodachi.

* * *

**Author's note: **Naruto mentioned in an earlier chapter that Hunters use chakra but I think he may have been confused. I'll go back and edit that when I'm certain.


	13. Last Night

Itachi's katana swished over my head. I ducked and stabbed him with my kodachi.

A punch to the jaw sent me crashing into a display case, showering me in shards of glass. I yanked a jagged piece from my hand, feeling warm blood trickle down my arm. Itachi was bleeding too, my kodachi sunk almost up to the hilt in his thigh.

"Teme," Itachi muttered. "That hurt."

He slid my weapon out of his leg with a slick sucking sound as the blood from his ruptured artery soaked his trousers.

"Dammit, that's going to sting in the morning…" He tossed my kodachi to the other side of the room and flourished his katana. "If you're going to be unreasonable about this, Naruto-kun…"

"_Me_ being unreasonable?" I tried to stand but immediately felt the sharp point of a piece of glass dig into the back of my leg. "It's you who's not letting me get to Sasuke," I winced. "You're the problem here!"

The vampire limped forward. "That's not how the Council sees it."

I narrowed my eyes. "How does your precious Council see it, then?" I asked, shifting away from him.

Danzo's bodyguard stepped forward, a disturbingly innocent smile on his lips. "You are sheltering a dangerous nine-tailed demon, Uzumaki Naruto-kun. That is how the Council sees it," he smiled.

"Sai," Itachi cautioned. "That's enough."

"Is that it?" My back was against the wall now. I looked back to Itachi. "Then why didn't you hand me over to the Council before?"

He came forward again; with each step, he came closer to Sai. Wait for the perfect moment…

"There was something I needed you for then," Itachi smirked. "All I had to do was let you escape somewhere near Madara's castle and you removed the two biggest threats to me from this world… it was so easy."

I pulled another shard of glass from my palm. "So I fell into your trap? Well it won't happen again."

"Oh but it already has," Itachi laughed. "With Madara gone, I am the strongest vampire in the world!"

He stepped forward again, raising his katana. He and Sai were practically side by side. It was enough.

I snapped my arms up in front of me, crossing my hands, palms outstretched. Itachi hesitated for a split-second before I sent a pulse of demon energy at him and Sai.

They jumped out the way, Itachi diving to the left, Sai rolling right. I stood, ignoring the pain, and ran between them as the floor collapsed beneath me. Using the falling debris to kick off from, I somersaulted over Sai and landed by the window high window.

My leg buckled and I crumpled to my knees. My clothes were damp with blood.

Sai and Itachi approached from behind, keeping apart this time. I had more than enough demon energy thanks to the Kyubi but in this state, I couldn't use it effectively.

"Then lend me your body." The voice was deep and resonant but not in the room; it came from inside.

"I'm not listening to voices in my head," I grumbled – this wouldn't be happening if I hadn't listened to Itachi's voice.

"Naruto, I'm speaking through your soul, not your head."

"Whatever. I don't need you!"

"Uh… who are you talking to?" Sai asked.

"No one." I tried to stand again, using the wall to support my weight.

"Don't ignore me, Naruto-kun," the voice growled. "I can get you out of this; just let me have control of your body for a couple of hours…"

I paused in my attempt to get up, still only on my knees. "Why would you help me?"

"Because I want the same thing as you; to get home." I felt tendrils of demon energy run along my limbs, removing the pain. "Look, Itachi intends to attack." I saw the flash of Itachi's katana, slowed down as it inched towards me. "Give me your body, Naruto, and I will save you."

The tip of the blade was blurred by the speed of its slice, yet it moved towards me in tiny increments, coming down at my shoulder.

"Naruto…" Kyubi murmured.

The katana brushed my ear. "Alright."

The sudden rush of power engulfed everything. I heard a strangled scream, then nothing.

Nothing…

The twitter of birds. Dawn.

I opened my eyes slowly. My entire body felt stiff. Next, a throbbing pain rushed in, pinpointing my wounds from the night.

I groaned and rolled over. A delicate lace curtain hung over the open window in my small room. Looking around, there was no furniture besides the bed, a bookcase and an old television. I eased myself into a sitting position to look out the window.

A bird fluttered down and landed on my windowsill, picking at the grains on the ledge. A gentle breeze blew in, cooling my face and bringing with it the familiar smells of Konoha village.

I was home, among the colourful organic-styled buildings I had grown up around. Home.

"Not yet," Kyubi growled in my head.

"Shut up." So last night hadn't been a dream; that was a pity. There was a knock at the door.

"Naruto, are you awake?" The voice was familiar.

"Kakashi!" I called. "Yes, I'm up."

The door opened, followed by Kakashi holding a tray on which was balanced a steaming bowl.

"Ramen?!" I sat up fully, though I wished I hadn't when pain twinged throughout my body.

Kakashi shook his head. "Vegetable soup."

"Ew."

"You need the nutrients to build up your strength," Kakashi explained.

"Yeah…" I took the bowl from him and drunk from it. "What happened, anyway?"

"Beats me," Kakashi shrugged, sitting on the end of my bed. "You just turned up in the middle of the night, shaking and covered in blood with this weird look in your eyes. Don't you remember?"

I shook my head.

"Oh yes," he held out my kodachi and a vial of dark red liquid. "You asked me to collect the blood from your sword."

"I did?" I took my kodachi but left the vial in his hand.

"Yeah, I got as much as I could and cleaned it for you afterwards." He held it up to the light. "Whose blood is this anyway?"

"Itachi's. I…" Judging by the look in Kakashi's eye, he came to the same conclusion as me in that moment.

"Itachi's blood…" He stared at the vial. "Could this be the key to saving Obito?"

I slurped at the soup, not meeting Kakashi's eye. If Kakashi revived Obito, then that would mean another vampire to open the gateway to the Demon Realm…

Kakashi slipped the vial into his pocket. "What do you remember about last night?"

"Aren't you going to go save Obito?" I asked a little too urgently.

"I need to speak with Jiraiya first. But Naruto, what do you remember?"

"Nothing," I replied, not quite truthfully; considerable detail of everything, up until the point I had allowed the Kyubi to take me over, had already returned to me.

"Temari said you went to the Council meeting with Gaara," Kakashi prompted.

"Uh, yeah."

"After I told you not to go near them," Kakashi sighed. "Did you know there was a commotion during the meeting?"

"No." I turned to look out the window in case he saw the lie on my face.

"Someone attacked Danzo in his suite and caused considerable damage," Kakashi explained. How much did he know already?

"Did they catch him?" I asked casually.

"No, he got away. There was a break-in at the museum though."

"Thieves?" I suggested, hoping to put him off my scent. Kakashi picked up the remote to the battered television set and flicked it on. The channel went instantly to the news where a helicopter shot showed a partially destroyed building, the rubble from which was scattered across the road. Columns of smoke rose into the air.

It was the museum.

"It doesn't look that way," Kakashi said, turning the set off again. "The official line is a terrorist bomb but the Council knows otherwise. Danzo had a man in there at the time who was able to report back."

"Oh? And what does he say happened?" My stomach contracted, seemingly trying to make me throw up the soup.

Kakashi looked straight into my eyes, not saying anything. After a minute, he stood up and walked to the door, which only took a few steps.

"I'll just go find Jiraiya," he said cheerily. "Drink up and get well soon."

I slumped back into the pillow. Kakashi knew. He couldn't not know. So what was he playing at? I had to hope that he was on my side but he could be secretly betraying me to the Council or maybe he was just too scared of my powers to accuse me outright.

Maybe he was using me to get that blood.

How many other people would use me?

I sighed and snuggled under the covers, slipping back into the blissful world of sleep where nobody was out to judge me.

By that afternoon, I was feeling well enough to get up so I threw on a black tee-shirt and orange three-quarter length trousers that Kakashi had collected from my house and went out into the kitchen-come-dining room where Kakashi was simmering fish in a pan.

At the table sat the grey-haired Jiraiya, flicking through Kakashi's copy of Icha Icha Violence.

"You see," Jiraiya was saying. "Sayuri's character was inspired by this stunning beauty I met at the hot springs. Well, I say 'met', but you know how it is – meeting and watching through the bamboo are quite similar. See, she had this splendid… oh hey, kid!" He said, noticing me in the doorway.

"Are you feeling better, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, serving up the fish on a bed of rice.

I nodded. "Did you two speak?"

"At length," Jiraiya answered. "I'll give you a sneak peek at Icha Icha Tactics too, if you like."

"No way! I'm not reading those trashy perverted books," I rolled my eyes. "I meant about Obito."

"You know, I'm offended," Jiraiya pouted. "I didn't spend all those days hiding around hot springs just to be insulted by the likes of you."

Kakashi set the plates on the table and I took a seat opposite him, picking up my chopsticks.

"It's all arranged," Kakashi told me, ignoring Jiraiya. "We'll start the ritual tomorrow up at the old Uchiha settlement. Then you can get to Sasuke."

My face grew hot and I looked down at my food. "I didn't mean it selfishly," I muttered.

"It's fine, Naruto." Kakashi reached over the table and patted me on the shoulder. "I understand what you're going through."

There were a few awkward moments of silence until Jiraiya separated his chopsticks with a snap.

"Itadakimasu," he announced, stuffing fish and rice into his mouth.

Kakashi and I echoed him and began eating.

"Did you hear," Jiraiya said, wiping his mouth. "The Council voted to destroy any demons on sight."

"Yeah," Kakashi murmured. "Gaara rang me. It seems that Mifune sided with Danzo in the end so he had the majority."

"I don't like the changes they're making," Jiraiya complained with a dark look in his eyes. "Our first priority should be to get the demons home."

"If you don't like the Council," I said. "Why do you follow them?"

Jiraiya half-grinned. "That's something I'd like to know."


	14. Ritual

**Author's note: **Sorry, slow update again. I won't take so long next time.

* * *

The early morning mist had leached the colour from the Uchiha village, leaving it monochrome. The vegetation was soft beneath my feet as I walked up to the mansion in which I had spent that first night with Sasuke.

I pulled my coat tighter around me; it was cold out in the forest at this time of day, especially when you didn't have a jumper over your tee-shirt. With heavy feet, I climbed the steps up to the rickety front door of Sasuke's mansion and pushed it open.

A pile of leaves had blown in through the broken windows and collected around the skirting boards but otherwise the hallway was exactly as I remembered it when Sasuke had been cradling me, promising to stay by my side. He had sworn he'd never leave but in the end, by that evening he had abandoned me.

"Dammit, Sasuke!" I slammed my fist against the wall, causing plaster to crumble from it and drift down into a neat little heap on the floor. I had every right to be angry considering how little his promise had meant but somehow, the anger couldn't compete with the strength of feeling I had for him.

"Naruto, is that you?" Jiraiya called to me. I followed the sound of his voice through into what appeared to be an old ballroom. In its heyday, it would have been quite stunning with rich velvet drapes and glittering chandeliers, though like everything, it hadn't stood the test of time. The curtains, drawn tight over the windows, were faded and moth eaten and the two chandeliers which still hung from the ceiling were grimy and cracked. The third had been dragged into a corner, though the floorboards bore the indent where it had fallen many years before.

"What do you think?" Jiraiya asked, swinging a pot of black paint. Four pentacles had been painted on the floor. One large one in the centre of the room contained Obito's body lying face up with his hands crossed across his chest. In front of it was a second pentacle, almost touching the boarder of the first where Obito's head laid, and on the other side were two slightly smaller pentacles, one on the left and the other on the right so that the three empty pentacles formed a triangle around Obito's body. The whole thing was surrounded by a sea of miniscule writing which didn't leave a single floorboard unmarked.

"Is this all necessary?" I raised my eyebrows; it would take an age to clean up after we had finished.

"I was up half the night doing this!" Jiraiya snapped. "Talk about ingratitude."

"Where's Kakashi?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "He took a walk outside. Go find him, would you, so we can get started."

I left Jiraiya inspecting his work and went outside, looking around for Kakashi, though he wasn't anywhere in sight. Typical Kakashi, turning up late for everything that was important.

"Oi, where are you?" I shouted but received no reply from the endless mist. I tutted and set off down what had once been the main street, calling Kakashi's name. With still no response, I stopped where I was and closed my eyes.

Despite the chill of the forest, I could easily remember the desert's heat as Temari had taught me how to detect a warrior's spirit. The trick was to relax your senses completely. It was similar to how you can only find stuff when you're not looking for it.

Though this particular skill wasn't my best, Kakashi wasn't making any attempt to hide. I pushed through the bushes in the direction I had sensed his spirit and it wasn't long before I found him sitting on a low wall outside a collapsed house.

He didn't look up as I approached. "Kakashi, we're ready."

"Yeah," he muttered.

"So… are you coming?"

He didn't answer. There was a glint in his eye, as if he were trying not to cry. I sat down beside him, penning in a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"I…" He was fiddling with his hands, wrangling them together, seemingly absorbed in their motions. "I don't know if this is the right thing to do."

Inside me, I felt the fox roar. It clawed at the wall of my guts, shouting at me.

"Don't let him spoil it all, Naruto-kun," Kyubi growled, digging its claws into my flesh. "Make him go through the ritual. Force him!"

I clutched my stomach, willing the demon back.

"Do you have a stomach ache?" Kakashi asked, finally looking at me.

I shook my head. "Why don't you think this is right?"

"Just… if Obito had wanted me to revive him, he would have said so. Wouldn't he?" He sighed. "It's like, the part of his spirit that lives on inside of me; it's a gift from him and giving it back… it's like rejection, isn't it?"

"I don't think he'd see it that way," I patted Kakashi awkwardly on the shoulder. "But of course, if you did give it back, Kiba said you'd loose your powers."

"That's not important," he shook his head. "I've had enough of hunting anyway; it's about time I got a peaceful retirement."

"So it's just gift etiquette that's the problem?"

Kakashi laughed. "You make it sound so trivial. But is this really what he would want?"

"Tell him yes," Kyubi nudged me. "Say it's what he would have wanted."

I gritted my teeth. "I didn't know him. I think you should answer that, Kakashi-sensei."

"Listen to me!" Kyubi roared. "You'll loose him if you act like an idiot!"

"Of course," Kakashi murmured. "You want me to do this, don't you?"

I chewed my lip as I mulled over my answer, ignoring Kyubi's frenzy inside me. "It's your decision, Kakashi-sensei," I told him eventually. "Yes, I want to get to Sasuke but I won't make anyone do anything they don't want to. If you decide… if you don't want to go through with this… I'll find a way. I swear; nothing will keep me from Sasuke! Dattebayo!"

Kakashi smiled to himself. "You're a good person, Naruto. I'd say a good Hunter but you don't know how to stab people in the back. You're a new breed and a decent change for our world."

I returned his smile, seeing that he really was crying now. "I'll give you some space. We'll await your decision."

Jiraiya was less pleased when I reported back to him.

"What?! You mean I did all _this _for nothing?!" He shouted, waving his arm at his work so I had to dodge it to avoid being smacked in the face.

"You _might _have done, or Kakashi might decide to do it," I said, trying to calm him down. "We just have to wait."

"No you don't," Kakashi said, leaning against the doorframe as a stray breeze, ruffled his hair. "I've made my decision."

Kyubi leapt about in the silence as we waited for his announcement.

"So…" Jiraiya prompted him. "What's your choice?"

"What?" Kakashi looked startled. "Oh, right, should we go ahead or not, you mean?"

He lapsed into silence again; I almost echoed Kyubi's infuriated growl. Kakashi grinned, clearly enjoying playing with us.

"Let's do this thing."

Jiraiya was a sudden rush of activity, directing us to our positions.

"Kakashi, that pentacle by Obito's head is yours," he said, pointing to the circle. "You don't need to supply any energy to the ritual, just concentrate on transferring the life force."

Kakashi gave a mocking salute and took up a kneeling position in the pentacle he had been assigned.

"Naruto, take the right-hand pentacle and wait for my instruction." Jiraiya took the vial of Itachi's blood from his pack and crouched down over Obito. He applied a drop of blood to his forefinger and used it to write a symbol on the vampire's forehead before moving to his own pentacle.

"Everything's ready," he declared. "Naruto, I'll do the hard work – just lend me your energy. And I mean all of it; we'll need everything you've got."

"Don't worry," Kyubi purred, delighted at the result. "You'll have all of mine."

The tendrils of red energy rose through my body, mixing with my own energy.

"Good, Naruto," Jiraiya nodded and put his hands together. "Begin!"

There was a sudden force pulling on me, as if the energy was being sucked from my body. My eyelids fluttered, the energy whooshing through them. Jiraiya was trembling, chanting inaudible words over and over again.

At first, it seemed as if nothing was happening but gradually, I became aware that the writing on the floor was moving, crawling towards Obito as if it had been magnetised and Obito were a giant magnet.

The lines of text circled the central pentacle, feeling for openings but finding none. The writing built up until Obito was surrounded by swirling words, all merging into a thick black border.

Jiraiya shouted something, balling his hands into fists. I felt an increased tug on my energy as, in response to his command, the writing swarmed over the outline of the pentacle, moving in to cover Obito's body.

Kakashi cried out as if in pain. He held out his palms towards Obito.

The text traversed the vampire's pale skin quickly, racing to the symbol on his forehead. As the first word touched it, it turned red, combining with the blood. A flash of colour ran along the entire line as it rushed forward, flowing into the symbol.

A chain reaction had begun, the redness radiating out as the text sped inexorably forward, the last few words vanishing quickly into the point on Obito's forehead.

The symbol seared white quickly, as did all four pentacles. I was battered by the roar of power, shaking my body like a hurricane. A trickle of something warm ran from my ear down to my neck.

Obito's back arched and he was suddenly, gasping for air, floundering on the floor of the ballroom like a grounded fish. The pull on my power ceased and I dropped to my knees, sweaty and shaking.

Kakashi was helping Obito into a sitting position, while Jiraiya sat back against the stage, grinning proudly and dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief.

"We did it," I said, though it couldn't have come out as more than a hoarse whisper. "We beat Death."

The ground lurched and I fell heavily on my side.

"Naruto?" Kakashi called, worried by my collapse.

"I'm fine," I assured him, righting myself. "I just need some air…"

Outside, I rested with my back against one of the trees that had grown up in the middle of the village, its roots pushing up through the cobbled street. I wiped my neck and found blood on my fingers.

"What are you waiting for?" Kyubi growled. "Get me home now!"

"Patience," I muttered, half closing my eyes.

With my senses relaxed, it was easy to detect the presence at the other end of the street. I opened my eyes.

"You!" I scrambled to my feet. Opposite me, my adversary smiled benignly.

"We meet again, Naruto-kun."


	15. Demon Realm

I reached for the kodachi at my waist.

"Get lost, Sai-teme!" I warned him, gripping the hilt of my weapon.

Sai smiled serenely. "You look exhausted, Naruto-kun. Do you think you can win against me again?"

I growled at him. Sai was correct; after the ritual, I didn't have enough energy left to defeat him.

"What do you want?"

"So you can't fight?" he smirked.

"I can fight you any time I like!" I snapped at him. "But first, tell me what the Council wants here!"

"Not the Council," Sai corrected me with a smile. "The interest is purely of Danzo-sama. I have a message that if you proceed with your intentions then you will place yourself as an enemy of Danzo, the Council and therefore the entire Hunter community… though it looks as if I have arrived too late."

I glanced behind me to where Sai was looking; Obito had appeared in the doorway of the mansion, Kakashi holding a parasol over him to defend against the early-morning sunlight.

"Kakashi-san," Sai bowed. "If I am to understand correctly the situation, you no longer possess your… extra-human abilities?"

"If you are referring to Obito's life force," Kakashi glared at him, both eyes now uncovered. "I have returned it to its rightful owner." He put an arm around Obito's shoulders.

"Then I must inform you that the Council has suspended your position as a Hunter until further evaluation of your abilities," he smiled politely.

"Then inform the Council that I resign," Kakashi responded. "And take this message to your boss: Jiraiya, Obito and I stand by Uzumaki Naruto in all his actions."

Sai's expression didn't change. "Kakashi-san, you must realise that by your declaration, you have set yourself up as an enemy of Danzo."

Jiraiya pushed past Kakashi on the doorstep and came to stand beside me, facing down Danzo's messenger.

"I think you'll find that Danzo became our enemy when he chose genocide!"

"Genocide?" Sai raised his eyebrows.

"That's right," Jiraiya growled. "It has always been the duty of Hunters to maintain the balance between the Realms; what Danzo has decided in making it compulsory to murder innocent demons amounts to genocide if it ever goes ahead!"

"Not all demons are innocent," Sai reminded him.

"Not all are bad!" Jiraiya roared, stepping forwards and towering over the shorter messenger. "A few may come here with malicious intent but the majority are just lost! You cannot justify destroying other living beings on the premise that some may be harmful!"

Sai didn't move except to wipe the spittle from his face when Jiraiya had finished. I went up to stand between them.

"You've heard what we have to say," I said, narrowing my eyes. "Now get lost and go run back to your master!"

"Of course." Sai bowed and turned his back. At the gateway, he paused and looked back over his shoulder.

"Naruto-kun," he said with a hint of a frown on his forehead. "Don't go to the Demon Realm."

"Yes, we know what Danzo thinks!" Jiraiya shouted at him.

"No, Naruto. Don't go." He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were somehow more intense. "If you do, the Kyubi will kill you."

Kyubi writhed inside me. "He lies! The boy lies!"

"Thank you for your concern," I told him as dispassionately as I could manage. "Now please leave."

I walked back to the mansion, ignoring Kakashi and Jiraiya as they tried to rouse me from my thoughts. This wasn't the first time I had been warned of the danger; Sai was expressing the same concern as Temari.

"You can trust me," Kyubi purred. "I won't hurt Naruto-sama."

"What proof do you have?" I whispered.

"I… uh… my word of honour as a demon," he answered. I didn't respond as I considered how much Kyubi's 'word of honour' was actually worth. "I've kept you safe all these years," he pleaded. "I wouldn't hurt you now, would I?"

"You've needed me."

"But it's grown into a mutual friendship, hasn't it?"

"I can't trust you…"

Kyubi roared. "Idiot! Just get me to the other side, teme!"

I smiled to myself; it was easy to get to know someone when they've been sealed inside you all your life. This was Kyubi's true nature. Jiraiya had said some demons are malicious and others are plain lost. Kyubi was both.

"However, there's no other way to find Sasuke so…"

"So…?" Kyubi settled down into his fawning display.

I spoke aloud to Obito. "Can you get me to the Demon Realm?"

Obito nodded enthusiastically. "Sure can, boss!"

"Get on it," I grinned, not quite feeling the elation I was trying to show.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, folding up the parasol as Obito hurried inside. "You are aware of the risks involved here?"

"Sure, sure," I pushed past him but he and Jiraiya followed me like shadows.

"Kyubi will want to go his own way as soon as you're on the other side," Jiraiya explained.

"That's natural for me to want to be free, isn't it?" Kyubi whined.

"I'm fine with that," I told them.

"Your souls are entwined, Naruto," Kakashi said.

"He will tear your soul apart to escape," Jiraiya added.

"Enough!" I spun to face them. "Did that out there mean nothing?! You swore to stand by me and that's what you should be doing, not trying to deter me from the path I've chosen."

Jiraiya shook me by the shoulder. "We're only trying to protect you."

"Don't." I pushed his hand off of me and went to join Obito who was standing in the centre of the ballroom.

"I'm ready," he announced.

"No pentacles this time?"

"None that you can see," he winked. "We vampires are a bit more skilled than daubing on the floor with black paint."

Jiraiya gave a little disgruntled pout and we all laughed.

"All I need is a katana." Everyone looked at Jiraiya who reluctantly gave up his weapon.

"Anything else?" I asked as Obito drew the sword.

"Some blood would be nice," he muttered, then grinned at the look on my face. "I'm joking!"

"Oh right," I felt myself blush. "I'd let you normally of course but I'm feeling a little weak right now –"

"It's fine," Obito laughed. "I've got Kakashi-sempai for that anyway."

He placed the saya on the ground between us and blew gently on the blade of the sword.

"By the way," he murmured. "I heard it was you who got the blood for the ritual."

"Uh yeah," I ran a hand through my hair. "It was nothing, really."

"Thanks," he smiled.

I gave him a nod. "So how does this work?"

"Like this." He held the katana in both hands, one on the hilt and the other on the pommel. Before I realised what he was doing, he stepped forward and thrust the blade into my chest.

There was no blood, or even pain for that matter; just a cold feeling like and icicle being driven through my ribcage, right into my heart. I looked up at him blankly but he wasn't there anymore.

I was standing, unharmed on the edge of a cliff, over looking a jagged gorge which struck down deep into the earth. All around, massive spires of weathered rock rose up into the orange sky which was scattered with the bright-blue pinpricks of stars.

Kyubi roared, louder than I had ever heard him roar before. His presence was heightened like he had become a larger, more powerful being.

"Finally, I'm free!" his call reverberated through every crag in the alien landscape.

I staggered back as a monstrous reddish-brown fox head emerged from my belly. It didn't leave any damage to my flesh but the pain it caused was as if my insides were being shredded and liquidised within me.

"We had a deal!" I shouted, the cry hurting my throat.

The rest of Kyubi's body followed his head, which turned to look at me as the back-legs stepped out of my stomach.

"Thanks for housing me, brat." He snarled. "I'll be going now."

I heard myself scream as each of the nine tails whipped out from inside me. My soul was entangled with the demon and Kyubi would tear it apart to be free.

"I'm not giving up so easily!" I glowered at him.

Kyubi rolled a huge eye and tried to kick at one of its tails with its hind-leg. "Dammit! I've got your soul caught up on my tail," he said in a disgusted tone.

The demon fox tugged hard, dragging my soul out further with every step he took. My head begun to spin. It was only one tail actually stuck to me. I clenched my teeth together and grabbed the tail, pulling Kyubi back.

"Let go!" He bared his teeth at me.

"No," I smirked. "You let go!"

I drew my kodachi and in a flash, brought it down through the base of Kyubi's tail. There was a tearing sound as the tail separated from his body and snapped backwards, crashing into me. I landed some distance away.

I saw Kyubi rear, crying out in pain before my vision faded.

Something poked the side of my face.

"Hey," a voice said. "What's this?"

"You idiot," a female voice chided him. "Did nobody ever tell you not to poke sleeping demons?"

"I think you'll find the phrase is 'sleeping dragons'," the first voice grumbled.

"Besides," a deeper voice said. "I don't think this one's a demon."

"Well it's certainly not human," the woman said.

I opened my eyes gradually to find a pair of purple eyes and a sharp-toothed grin looming over me. I scrabbled backwards with a little shout.

"You scared him," the red-haired woman smacked him on the head.

"Ow, Karin!" He moaned. "That was unnecessary!"

"Here little fellow," the larger man crooned, holding his hand out to me. "Don't be frightened."

I gave them the best glare I could in my bewildered state. "I _can_ talk, you know."

"Oh, sorry about that," the woman said, helping me to my feet. "My name's Karin, that's Jugo and this idiot is Suigetsu."

"Oi," Suigetsu complained, drinking from a bottle. "That's not mature."

"Neither's drinking squishies all the time," she countered. "Anyway," she said, peering at me. "What are you?"

"Uh… a human?" I guessed.

"Pfft, yeah right," Karin snorted and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Who do you think you're kidding with that tail?"

"What tail?"

"That one!" she pointed to the orange-furred, white-tipped tail behind me.

"Huh?" I tried to move away from the tail but it followed me. "What the?" I reached around to pull it off but it was quite definitely attached to my body.

"The ears are a dead giveaway too," Suigetsu added for which Karin absentmindedly punched him in the face. "What the hell was that for?!"

"For existing." She hit him again.

I reached up to the side of my head where I felt a furry little fox ear in place of my normal human one. I touched the other side which I found was exactly the same. I had ears and a tail just like Kyubi… Kyubi, the nine-tailed fox demon… Yet I had cut off one of its tails and that particular tail was still entwined with my soul…

I was a one-tailed demon.

* * *

**Author's note: **sheesh, there was a lot of dialogue in that chapter. I hope you guys don't mind me giving Naruto a tail and ears. Not that he didn't already have ears…


	16. Reunion

"Hey, Demon," Suigetsu called, rubbing the side of his face where Karin had hit him. "You okay? You look a little dazed."

"My _name_ is Naruto," I snarled at him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

I turned my back on them and walked off through the forest of stone spires that surrounded me. I brushed my fingers lightly over one as I passed it, dislodging a little cloud of dust in the process. Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo were still talking about me.

"Think we ought to take him back with us?" Suigetsu asked.

"He's only a one-tail," Karin replied. "It's not necessary to recruit him."

I paused, my hand still touching the pillar of rock. Their conversation had caught my interest; these three sounded like they were recruiting high-powered demons for something. Gaara had suspected something like this was happening.

I glanced over my shoulder at the trio who were silhouetted against the bright orange sky.

"Madara is recruiting any demons he finds," Jugo murmured. I gripped the rock tightly at the mention of Madara's name. Rock-dust drifted to the ground from where my fingers dug in to the soft pillar.

"That's Madara," Karin tutted. "Filling his army with any old rubbish. We're looking for demons of higher quality."

"Quality not quantity, eh?" Suigetsu grinned.

"That's right."

Suigetsu took a canister from his belt and sucked noisily through its straw. "You know, sometimes quantity can beat quality…"

Karin smacked him on the back of the head, causing him to choke on his squishy.

"What?" He protested. "I'm just saying Madara might have a point in this situation…"

"Why don't you join him if you think he's right, Suigetsu-san," Jugo rumbled.

"I never said he was right." Suigetsu folded his arms and huffed.

Karin stalked off, following the edge of the gorge. "Come on," she waved for the other two to follow her. "We'll be late if you hang around here all day."

Suigetsu shoved his hands into his pocket and dragged his feet. "We wouldn't want to keep Sasuke-sama waiting…"

Sasuke. My heart jumped, slamming against my ribs. Sasuke…

"Wait!" I shouted after them, forcing myself to breathe. They each turned to look at me; Suigetsu with a look of disdain, Jugo with one of compassion and Karin with an expression that suggested a hint of irritation.

"What do you want, squirt?" Suigetsu looked down at me.

"Where's Sasuke?" I demanded.

"Like we'd tell you," Karin said, turning her back. "You could be one of Madara's spies."

"Tell me!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm Uzumaki Naruto and… and I love Sasuke! And nothing's going to stop me finding him now, dattebayo!" I gripped my kodachi, sliding into a fighting stance. "If you won't tell me then I'll beat it out of you!"

Karin blinked in the silence for a few moments before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Uchiha Sasuke in love with a demon?" She giggled. "You're delusional."

"I'm not a demon," I scowled. "I am a human, the son of Namikaze Minato."

"I think this one's lost it," Suigetsu sniggered. "Do you even know who Minato was, squirt?"

"Yes! He was the best Vampire Hunter of all time and he was my father!"

Suigetsu waved his hands across my vision. "Newsflash for you; human beings have human babies. You ain't human, baka!"

I drew my sword and held it horizontally, both hands on the hilt. "I've taken the form of a demon because I absorbed a tail from a nine-tailed demon. If you don't believe me, then I'll prove it with my blade!"

He smiled a sharp-toothed grin and unclipped what seemed to be a giant sword from his back. He took hold of the handle and lifted it easily into the air, despite its obvious weight.

"This is the 'Decapitating Carving Knife'," he smirked. "If you still want to fight me, bring it on."

I swallowed as I took in the sheer size of the sword; it was roughly the same length as its wielder's height and incorporated a circle cut into the top and a semi-circle near its base. The sharp edge glinted, reflecting the blue stars above.

"Suigetsu," Karin sighed. "This isn't the time."

He ignored her and continued to gaze into my eyes. I glared back.

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked with a half-smile. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Is that supposed to impress me?" he chuckled.

"No, but this way you know who to say kicked your arse!" I leapt into the air, landing lightly on the blunt side of his giant sword and swung my kodachi at his face.

I stopped with my blade a hair's breadth from touching his skin.

"Not too shabby," Suigetsu admitted. "But let's see what you're really made of!"

He threw the blade up into the air. I kicked off of it, somersaulting and slashing at his back. Suigetsu dodged to the side and knocked my arm away with his elbow. Though I was sure I had landed a hit on his back, there was no mark there to indicate it and Suigetsu clearly wasn't injured.

As I landed on the ground, I rolled and came upright again, just as Suigetsu's weapon fell from above.

I tried to shout a warning but it was too late; the heavy sword sliced straight through Suigetsu's body and landed, half sunk into the rocky ground, surrounded by a puddle of water.

I swore, staggering backwards. The guy had been killed by his own weapon and had just turned to water! I took another step away. The other two hadn't moved; would they want revenge for their partner's demise?

A ripple ran across the puddle. The water was moving, rising upwards. It formed the shape of a body and Suigetsu was there again, leaning on the sword and laughing.

My foot slipped suddenly. I hadn't realised I had been backing away towards the edge of the gorge until the ground gave way under my feet and I fell back into the void. There was nothing to support my weight. I was falling, tumbling downwards. The bottom of the gorge was so far away…

A hand grabbed my ankle and I slammed into the vertical rock-face. Looking up, I saw Suigetsu holding onto me by the ankle, his arm stretched to reach me.

"Hold on," he called, his arm shrinking and pulling me upwards until I could scrabble onto solid ground.

"That's what happens when you play fight," Karin chided. "Someone always gets hurt."

"How… how did you do that?" I gaped at my rescuer. "I saw you get cut in half."

He shrugged. "You know how the body is sixty per cent water? Well mine's more like ninety-nine per cent so I can just reform myself if I get hurt. Neat, huh?"

"He's like a cockroach," Karin muttered.

"I'm choosing to ignore that," the water-cockroach crossed his arms. "Naruto-kun… you managed to strike me."

"Uh… yeah, I think I did."

"Impressive – you're more than an ordinary demon, that's for sure."

Jugo cleared his throat. "His story is possible," he said. "And we did see that wounded eight-tails on our way here."

"I think we should take him to see Sasuke-sama," Karin announced.

"Finally," I grinned.

"Jugo, Suigetsu, go on ahead," Karin announced, walking towards me. "I want a quick word with Naruto first."

The two men trudged off, giving Karin confused looks. The redhead ignored them and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, pulling me close to hiss in my ear,

"Sasuke's mine. Don't you think you'll be laying a finger on him, demon-boy."

"I think we should let Sasuke decide that," I smirked.

She glared at me before letting go of my shirt and marching off after the boys. I trailed after her, keeping my distance.

Before long, we stopped outside a small cave with a perfectly circular mouth about a metre across. Jugo and Suigetsu had already gone inside; I just saw Suigetsu's feet disappear into the hole. I was about to follow when Karin pushed me out of the way and crawled through herself.

On the other side, I heard Sasuke's voice.

"Karin, you're late," he stated. I could have stayed where I was for hours, just listening to him speak but I needed to get in there. I had to see him. Karin had laughed at the idea of Sasuke loving a demon… would he still love me?

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke, darling," I heard Karin simper as I crawled through the narrow entrance and into the main body of the cave; an almost spherical room, perhaps a little larger than the ballroom in the Uchiha mansion and lit by a soft red light emanating from jagged crystals set into the wall, floor and ceiling at seemingly random intervals.

I saw that Jugo was feeding a small fluffy creature at one side of the cave while Suigetsu sat opposite him, cleaning his sword. Karin meanwhile was prancing around the one person I had eyes for.

Sasuke, sitting on a throne-like chair at the back of the cave, raised his head.

"Naruto…" he glowered at me.

"S-Sasuke, what's wrong?" I stepped forward into a pool of red light. "It's me, Naruto."

"You shouldn't have come here." He stood and brushed past me on his way to the exit. Karin smirked sinisterly.

"Sasuke!" I shouted after him but he had already gone outside. I scrambled out of the cave and found the black-haired vampire with his back to me, staring out across the wastelands of the Demon Realm.

"I came to save you," I told him. He didn't respond and I felt my lip quiver. "I came all this way to find you and bring you back! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Baka," Sasuke whispered, not turning.

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek but quickly wiped it away. I wouldn't let him see me cry. "Teme!" I shouted. "Why are you doing this? I love you!"

"Don't!" Sasuke snapped.

"Sasuke, I love you!"

"Shut up, don't say it!"

I gritted my teeth. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I lo-!"

Sasuke spun, grabbed me by the wrist and kissed me.

"I… I love you too," Sasuke muttered.

"Then why?" I cried. "Why are you spurning me like this?!"

"Look how much pain I've caused you," he said, his eyes travelling over my new ears and tail.

"That's nothing compared to the pain you're causing me now!" I retorted.

He shook his head. "You don't understand," he whispered. "You're a demon now… or a quasi-demon anyway. You can't return home because you'll be hunted by your former friends and besides… it's cursed you with the inability to die of old age."

"Immortality…" I murmured.

"It's not as good as it sounds," Sasuke reminded me. "You should have just stayed where you were and waited for me!"

"And how long would that have taken?" I punched him on the arm. "You've been taking your time down here."

He put his arms around me and hugged me. I didn't care that I was crying now; Sasuke was with me. He would be with me for all eternity.

"I have to defeat Madara before I can return. It's harder than it looks." He held me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. "Do you mind? I'm a little thirsty…"

I smiled and pulled down the collar of my coat. Sasuke sliced my neck with his fangs and hungrily lapped at the blood.

"As good as ever," he grinned. "Better than Karin's."

I pulled away. "You've been drinking that woman's blood?"

"What… are you _jealous_, Naruto-koi?"

"No," I lied, looking away. Sasuke laughed and embraced me once more.

"You're so cute, dobe."


	17. War Clouds

Sasuke set an earthen cup of turquoise liquid down in front of me and took a seat on the opposite side of the low table in one of the side-chambers of the main cave.

We sat there for several hours just talking about everything that had happened, often holding hands and occasionally kissing. The blue drink was unusual, a sort of cross between orange, pineapple and fennel, but quite drinkable.

Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo were careful not to disturb us during our conversation, though we could hear them tip-toeing about outside the chamber and whispering to each other. Sasuke explained that they were normal humans who had, in various circumstances, fallen through into the Demon Realm and made their homes here.

When Sasuke and Madara had arrived here, they had continued the battle from the castle, causing considerable damage to the landscape in the process – apparently, the gorge I had almost fallen down had been created by one of Madara's attacks.

Nevertheless, though Madara had the advantage in power, victory was not assured against Sasuke who had strength of his own. When the fight started attracting attention from the demons and the three humans, they ended it and retreated to the far ends of the Realm.

"Madara has been forming an army," Sasuke said, his long fingers pressed together. "He's promising the demons freedom to live in either realm when he has full control of the Human Realm."

"He's planning to take over the world?"

"More than that. His condition is that he will be named as King of the Demon Realm as well as the Human Realm. Essentially, he intends to take over the universe."

"But why? What does he want?"

Sasuke sighed and rocked back on his heels. "My best guess would be revenge against humankind."

I whistled. "That's some grudge."

"Considering the harm you've caused us vampires, it's unsurprising."

"Hey! I'm not a human, remember?" I reminded him, jabbing my chest.

Sasuke laughed and leant over the table to stroke my ears. "I've been thinking about that," he said. "There are disadvantages to your form considering the Hunters will be after you but there are also certain advantages."

"How do you mean?"

Sasuke steepled his fingers again. "You had rudimentary control of Kyubi's demon energy before, correct?"

"I'd have said it was pretty good," I pouted.

"Perhaps." He smiled. "But any skill at making use of it is an illusion. While you were able to affect its form, the supply of that energy was down to Kyubi's will. If he was cooperative then you could have as much as you needed… if not, you'd be left high and dry."

"But Kyubi isn't inside me anymore…"

"Exactly my point." Sasuke stood up and held his hand out to me. I took hold of it and he led me out of the cave.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he took me away from the cave and out across the rocky landscape.

"A little place I like," he answered. "Anyway, if you'll permit me to continue. Before, you had to rely on Kyubi but now, you have your own supply of demon energy."

"But I don't have as much, right?"

"True." He nodded. "But you can use one hundred per cent of it and you should have a sufficient amount – having nine tails is simply going overboard."

"Then why are there demons that powerful?"

"Once, all demons had only one tail," Sasuke explained. "But some started consuming the energy of others to become stronger and stronger. With each demon they consumed, they gained another tail. It was a power struggle to find the strongest demon to rule the Realm."

"So what happened?"

"One demon got to fourteen tails…" Sasuke raised his chin to look up at the twinkling constellations above. "It reached critical mass and exploded, wiping out a significant proportion of the demon population. You see those stars? Those are its remains, scattered across the sky."

"Ew," I muttered, recoiling as I realised the sight I had considered beautiful was made up of bits of dead demon.

"From then on the demons stopped fighting so that such a thing wouldn't happen again."

We came upon a steep incline which Sasuke climbed with ease, pausing at the peak. I stood beside him and found myself looking down into a massive crater, perfectly round like something from a moonscape.

"Don't tell me this is where…"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered without letting me finish my sentence. "This is where the fourteen-tailed demon detonated."

He hopped down into the crater and waved for me to join him. I sighed before jumping after him. The stone here was blotchy but still as soft as the ground above.

I noticed a lilac stream running across the bottom of the crater and gurgling down a sinkhole. Sasuke smiled as I explored the area, tracing the stream to a waterfall… though that term wasn't entirely accurate; the coloured water appeared to be liquid at the top of the waterfall, many metres above my head but as soon as it ran off the edge, it immediately crystallised into hundreds of tiny glistening jewels before reverting to its liquid state the moment it hit the ground.

I crouched by the stream and scooped up some of the strange water in my hand, finding it turned into crystals as soon as I raised it into the air.

"I never get tired of that," Sasuke said behind me. I slipped a handful of the solid crystals into my pocket and turned to face him.

"So what were you saying about demon energy?"

Sasuke gripped me by the shoulders, a look of excitement in his usually dark eyes. "That you can use it!"

"But I could use it before…"

He shook his head. "Not like this you couldn't."

He took a few steps back, then charged at me, swinging his fist around at me. I ducked out of the way, jumping over the stream.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Come on, fight me," Sasuke said waving me closer with his hand. "I want to show you what you can do."

"What can I do?" I backed away from Sasuke's apparent insanity moment.

"Anything!" He yelled and leapt the stream, punching downwards at my face in mid air.

I flung my hand out instinctively and felt a tingle of energy shoot through it. Sasuke smashed into the wall of the crater, the rock crumbling around him and turning to dust.

"Sasuke!" I shouted, sprinting to him. "I'm so sorry! That was an accident!"

He grinned shakily, brushing dust from his hair. "It's fine," he said. "And not as bad as it looks. Do you see what I mean now?"

"Yeah… but it was different…"

"How so?" He leant close to me, apparently examining my eyes. I reached my hand out slightly, hoping he would come forward.

"It was sort of a different colour… it feels light blue now, it used to be red."

"That's to be expected." He looked from me to the almost vertical wall of the crater. "Try walking up that."

"What?"

"Give it a go," he told me. "If you channel your demon energy to your feet, you should be able to use it to stick to the wall. Try it."

"But there's no way…"

"Run at it if you're worried," he said. "But you should be fine as long as you send energy to your feet. I've seen other demons do this countless times."

I rolled my eyes. Sasuke really had lost it. Well it couldn't hurt to prove him wrong; I ran at the wall, sending energy to the soles of my feet as he had told me.

It was a strange sensation as my first foot landed on the wall. For my foot, it felt exactly the same as walking on firm ground, yet for the rest of me, gravity was working in the wrong direction, pushing me back towards the ground.

I put my other foot forward and soon found I was walking straight up the wall with hardly any effort.

I twisted where I was standing to look down at Sasuke.

"This is awesome!" I laughed. Unfortunately, at that moment I lost concentration and forgot to keep up the flow of energy to my feet.

I landed heavily on the ground, though thankfully the softness of the rock cushioned my fall.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked, helping me to sit up.

"Yeah I – ew, what the heck?" My pocket was soaking wet as if someone had filled it with water. I remembered the crystals I had put in there and quickly got to my feet. The liquid solidified instantly, though since it had already soaked through the cloth of my trousers, the crystals formed within the fabric, leaving me with a hard, sparkling purple patch on my orange trousers.

"On the right outfit, that would look quite fashionable," Sasuke observed.

"Mm, but not on mine."

"It's fine," he assured me. "If we wash it on the ground we'll be able to get the crystals out while they're liquid. I mean look at it this way – at least you didn't drink the stuff."

"That's always an upside."

He reached out and put an arm around my waist. At last.

I felt him press his mouth to my neck, his lips gently caressing the flesh as he kissed me.

"Are you hungry again?"

"No," he whispered, his lips moving along my jaw line and up to meet mine. "I've missed you so much."

I let myself melt into the kiss, our bodies moving together in unison as our tongues connected. I spoke quietly as his lips returned to my neck.

"Then let's promise never to…" A slight moan escaped me as he sucked on my skin, interrupting my sentence. "Let's never leave each other again."

"Didn't we promise that before?" He asked as his hands slid under my tee-shirt, caressing my body.

"Yeah… but let's mean it this time."

He looked into my eyes for a few moments before nodding with a chuckle and pulling my shirt off over my head.

We kissed again and I found myself on the ground. I didn't care that the crystals had formed a wet patch on my trousers again because Sasuke was on top of me, his shirt discarded on the ground beside me and his lips locked with mine.

"Hey, Sasuke!" A voice called from above.

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly and looked up at the figure on the edge of his crater. He bared his fangs.

"Can't you see that I'm busy, Suigetsu?" He hissed.

"Sorry boss," Suigetsu said, shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "But I thought you ought to know that Madara has split his army and is moving half of it to the Southern edge of the Realm."

Sasuke sat up, still straddling me. "Which half is Madara commanding?"

"The half that's moving… hey, you don't think…?"

"Yes." Sasuke snatched up his shirt and leapt out of the crater, landing beside Suigetsu.

"What's happening?" I asked, running up the wall to catch up with them.

"Madara's taking his army to the area that connects to the Wind Country in the Human Realm," Sasuke said, putting his shirt on.

"Then…you mean he's invading?"

Sasuke nodded.

* * *

**Author's note: **This is the last time I'm going to be able to update before September so sorry for keeping you waiting until then. On another note, I'm now definite that chakra isn't used in this universe - it's kind of redundant considering Naruto's demon energy is more or less exactly the same thing.


	18. Ambush

**Author's note: **It's been longer than I anticipated since my last update but hopefully I'll be back on form from now on. Sorry for keeping you waiting.

* * *

"It certainly looks like Madara's aim is a full scale invasion of the Human Realm," Sasuke murmured.

I almost had to run to keep up with Sasuke as he strode towards the entrance of the cave where Karin was waiting, looking flustered.

"What's the make-up of his troops?" Sasuke demanded, slipping past her into the cave. She followed him and answered to his back.

"It's the higher level demons that Madara's moving – mainly three to five tails. The other half of his army is made up of one tailed demons and a few three tails." She pushed her glasses up her nose and placed her hands on her hips, waiting as Sasuke disappeared down a narrow corridor leading off from the main cavern. He returned quickly, gripping a katana.

"He's leaving the one-tails in reserve," Sasuke explained, passing the weapon through his belt. "What he has is more than enough to defeat the limited number of Hunters in the Human Realm."

Defeat… I had never seen Madara as such a threat. He was simple an annoying obstacle between me and Sasuke, never a danger to humanity.

"What are we going to do?" I gasped.

Sasuke glanced at me as if the answer was obvious. "We're going to stop him."

Suigetsu sniffed from the doorway. "Why bother? What's it to do with us?"

"Idiot!" Karin snapped. "Weren't you listening to Sasuke?"

Sasuke held up a hand to silence her. "Suigetsu, it's your choice whether you want to help or not but remember you were human once."

"Count me out," he rolled his eyes. "If Madara's up there then he won't cause trouble down here. It's better all round."

"Very well," Sasuke nodded. "Jugo?"

"I'm with you," Jugo growled. I hadn't seen him appear.

"Look after Karin," Sasuke instructed. "Karin, I need you to keep an eye on the reserve troops. Any movement, have Jugo send word."

Karin made a noise of assent but Sasuke was already hurrying out of the cave. I remained on his heels.

"What should I do?"

"You're with me," Sasuke said, looking back over his shoulder. "We need to get through to Konoha and send a warning to Gaara. It'll take Madara about five hours to orchestrate moving such a large force between Realms."

"Five hours?" I swallowed. "Aren't we cutting it a bit fine?"

"Hn." Sasuke grimaced. I noticed that we were heading back along the ravine to the cliff edge where I first came through into this world. Sasuke was practically running now but I seemed to have more energy in my demon form and was able to keep up with him without tiring too much.

Quite suddenly, he skidded to a halt, holding out a hand to stop me. I waited breathlessly. There was silence all around.

Sasuke sighed. "Sorry, I thought I heard –"

There was a sudden flash of movement from the high rocks to our right and a red-furred lion landed on the path in front of us, its teeth bared and its five tails swishing viciously behind it.

I turned in time to see a blue four-tailed wolf leap up out of the gorge and touch down, blocking our escape to the rear.

A metallic sliding sound told me that Sasuke had unsheathed his katana. He held it loosely in his right hand and leant back to talk to me.

"Don't get embroiled in this fight," he warned. "When I say, run and get to Konoha. I'll be right behind you."

"But –"

Sasuke twisted away as the lion leapt and knocked it to the dusty ground. I drew my kodachi and ducked to the side to avoid the wolf as it sailed over me. Sasuke's blade split the air and took off one of the wolf's legs, sending it crashing against the rocks.

"Now! Go!" He shouted.

A moment's hesitation and I was gone, dashing past the snarling canine's jaws and hurtling along the precarious mountain path.

I stopped at the point where I remembered arriving and looked behind me to see Sasuke swirling his sword in a flurry of movement to fend off the lion and limping wolf.

Now what?

How the hell do I get to Konoha? Sasuke hadn't given me any practical instruction on that at all. I sighed, closing my eyes, and tried to see if I could sense anything.

There it was. A faint echo of something… like a magnetic force, pulling ever so slightly at my cells. I concentrated, trying to attune myself to it and it became stronger. I almost didn't hear the whip-like crack from amongst the forest of pillars.

Fortunately, the sound made me lose concentration and I opened my eyes just in time to dodge a ball of flame which shot past me, singing my hair. A giant lizard stood before me, one leg crushing one of the pillars. I could make out six or seven tails stretched out on the ground behind it. Its tongue shot out, cracking like a whip and I saw it draw in a breath, readying another shot.

Sasuke was engaged in his own battle, oblivious to my adversary. I swore under my breath and dropped to the ground to avoid the second, larger blast, the heat from which burned my skin.

It looked like this was my fight.

I threw out my hands in front of me and gave the creature a blast of demon energy which glanced off its armoured scales and obliterated the rock face behind it.

The tongue whipped out again and I readied myself for the next fireball. I never expected the demon to use its own body as a weapon. The slimy forked tongue wrapped around my ankle and slammed me against the ground.

There was a pull on my leg. The tongue reeled in, dragging me towards the gaping red mouth.

I smirked. The demon almost gave me an inquisitive look but it was too late for it to close its mouth. I shot another blast straight between its gaping jaws and down its gullet.

The creatures' eyes bulged as it released me. I brushed myself off, standing up. The lizard looked as if it might be sick.

I closed my eyes to search again for the magnetic force but only one image filled my mind. That was a fire-lizard. Rather than being sick, wouldn't it…

My eyes snapped open. Smoke was billowing from between the lizard's sharp teeth. It opened its mouth and I saw, in its throat, a mass of flame. The demon's sides gradually expanded.

Fire-lizards don't vomit; they explode.

There was nowhere to run. I swore again, this time louder. If I didn't get to Konoha soon, I'd find out what it's like to be a barbecued steak. Come on!

Its scaled sides were swelling, about to burst. I squeezed me eyes tight shut. Where the hell was that magnetism?

My eyelids flared red. A deafening boom crashed against my eardrums. The terrible heat scorched my features. I raised a hand to protect myself, like a twig against a hurricane.

The last image of Konoha I had seen – the misty morning in Uchiha village – flashed through my eyes and then the heat was gone.

I was kneeling on the cobbles outside Sasuke's mansion, the cool night air against my skin. I sighed a sigh of relief.

A circle of clicks sounded around me and I raised my head to see a dozen crossbows pointed at my face.

Damn.

Cold, merciless laughter rang out, sending a chill across my back. An elderly woman stepped forward, her grey hair pulled back in a tight bun. Behind her stood a bearded man. These were two I recognised from the Hunter summit; Koharu and Homura, both of whom were in Danzo's pocket.

"If it isn't Uzumaki Naruto," Koharu sneered. "But what happened to you? You can't possibly be a demon, can you?"

I didn't like her tone of voice; she sounded triumphant… no more than that – delighted.

"Nah," I replied sarcastically. "Did I never tell you I'm half chipmunk?"

Koharu's mouth became a thin line. "Very witty." She came towards me, the Hunters around me parting to let her through. "Tell me where Uchiha Obito is."

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."

She glared at me before turning on her heel.

"Shall we put him with Kakashi and Jiraiya?" One of the hunters asked.

"No," Koharu murmured. "He's a demon. You know your orders."

"Yes ma'am." The Hunter saluted. Each man raised his crossbow to fire. My mind raced for an escape plan but came up blank. This was it. Out of luck.

A sudden flash of electric blue split the air and a blurred shape swept me from the ground, shot into the air and smashed through a first floor window of the mansion. Crossbow bolts clattered against the brickwork.

My saviour grinned at me. "I leave you alone for a few seconds…"

"Sasuke…" I breathed.

He gave me a quick embrace before turning his attention to the Hunters outside. The volley of crossbow bolts ceased on Koharu's shrieked orders.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she glowered. "And I thought we got rid of you for good."

"Koharu-obaasan… haven't you retired yet?" Sasuke winked at me. "You're getting a bit old for this."

She tutted. "I'm not usually on the frontline but this is for Danzo-sama."

"Danzo?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "That shady creep?"

"Don't talk about him like that!" Koharu screamed.

"Sheesh," Sasuke whispered to me. "That old woman's worse than Karin… Do you think you can slip out the back window?"

I gave the window a look – it was a small, circular stained-glass affair set into the wall above the staircase, just large enough for me to fit through. I nodded.

"Good. We'll go on my signal then." He smiled and turned back to Koharu. "Where are you holding Kakashi-san and Jiraiya-san?"

"Holding?" Koharu asked innocently. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean. Last I was aware, they were Hunters like me."

"Honestly," Sasuke shook his head. "There's a lot of you; I'm sure you're here for a reason and Naruto tells me those two have also been here. I'll ask one last time, where are they?"

Koharu's eyes narrowed and she shifted over to her partner for a hissed discussion. Sasuke took the opportunity to whisper to me. "They'll be keeping them in Konoha. We need a distraction."

I surveyed the ruined village. The house closest to Koharu was in relatively good condition and had a sort of tower built into its side.

"Just tell me when," I told him.

"Now's good."

I jumped up and sent a ball of demon energy at the house. The wall exploded in a blast of mortar, dust and rock which engulfed the two elderly Hunters. Gradually, the dust began to clear but it left the Hunters to stare in horror as the tower slowly crumbled, falling towards their leaders, trapped under the debris.

Sasuke grabbed my hand and together we dived for the back window. We crashed through it one after the other, immediately coming upon the foliage of the forest and disappeared into the leaves.

There were shouts from behind us and screams of rage from Koharu who had clearly survived her predicament but those things didn't matter to us as we leapt from branch to branch.

Eventually, Sasuke broke the silence by laughing.

"Nice work, Naruto-koi," he chuckled. "I would have loved to stay to see the look on that woman's face."


	19. First Battle

There was silence except for the nocturnal wind sweeping through the branches that concealed us from the glimmering lights of Konoha below. A dark green leaf drifted down and settled gently on Sasuke's shoulder as he remained motionless, watching the guards outside the police station with unblinking black eyes.

"Kakashi and Jiraiya are definitely in there?" I asked.

"Hn." The leaf slid off his shoulder and drifted towards the ground. "Look at the Hunters they have stationed outside. There could be no where else."

I turned my head back to the patrolling guards. After a moment, I voiced my thoughts.

"So what are we waiting for?"

"We need to wait to work out their patrol pattern and to see if there are any more troops. It's all a matter of obtaining the right knowledge before rushing in."

I stared at him. Damn Sasuke, what was he thinking, reasoning this stuff out? Before he could stop me, I drew my kodachi and leapt down from the branches, landing in front of the two startled guards.

The first didn't get a chance to react before I whacked him across the side of the face with the dull side of my blade; the other managed to half-draw his katana before receiving an elbow in the gut.

The two men keeled over, smacking into the dust. I grinned to myself and turned to the two double doors of the police station…

… which stood open. Two figures were silhouetted against the harsh white side that blazed from the interior. One was tall and thin, the other bulkier and seemingly hunched. I narrowed my eyes against the light.

"Uzumaki Naruto-kun," the bulkier man sneered and I recognised him immediately as Danzo. The man behind him was Itachi, Sasuke's older brother.

I hopped backwards, sheathing my kodachi. This fight might require Temari's battojutsu or my own demon attacks.

"Oh," Danzo continued. "And Sasuke's here too. You might as well come down." He glanced up at the tree top where Sasuke was hiding. He dropped down beside me with a sigh.

"You must be Danzo," he said. He didn't even look at his brother but I saw Itachi's eyes on him with a twisted, undecipherable expression. "I'd ask you to get out of our way."

"You seem to be under the impression that I'm weak," Danzo laughed. "But you forget that it is my duty to strike both of you down. You are not creatures of this world and must, therefore, be removed from it immediately."

I clenched my fists. "You hypocrite!"

Danzo turned to me, his eyebrows raised. "You have something to say?"

"You're a hypocrite and a liar." I ground my teeth together. "If you believed what you said, you wouldn't be working with Itachi! What's your real goal?!"

"Naruto's right," Sasuke murmured, placing a hand on the hilt of his katana. "But we have no time to talk philosophy. Will you or will you not stand aside?"

Danzo yanked his cloak from his shoulders and threw it to the ground. "I will not."

"Very well." Sasuke shifted into an attack stance. I mirrored him but keeping one hand free; I'd open up the field a bit with some demon energy first. I saw Itachi move his hand to his weapon but Danzo remained nonchalant.

"Come, if you think you have a chance."

The next series of events happened too fast. It was enough that my eyes could see them happening but it took time for me to correlate my senses.

I had flung out my hand and used my innate demon energy to attack Danzo. Somehow, he dodged. Sasuke leapt forward, slicing with his katana. In the same instant, Itachi sprung towards his brother. Between them, Danzo swung his sword…

A clash of blades. A sickly squelch. A katana falling to the ground.

Sasuke jumped back, sliding to a halt beside me. He was unharmed.

Itachi and Danzo stood facing each other. Danzo's katana protruded from the vampire's back.

"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted.

"Heh," Itachi muttered. "Straight through the heart… not bad at close range…"

Danzo's expression did not shift. "I have expected you to betray me since I met you. Once a vampire, always a vampire."

"Yeah…" Itachi's leg almost gave way as he tried to remain standing. "But… I have not failed…"

There was a flash of movement as Itachi struck, his exposed fangs sinking into Danzo's neck.

"Wha–?" The Hunter staggered backwards, trying to dislodge his prey. Itachi gulped down his blood almost as fast as he was losing his own through the wound to his chest.

"No…" Sasuke whispered. "Itachi… why did you?"

Itachi crumpled, the blade sliding out of him as he fell to his knees. Danzo toppled over, clutching at his bleeding neck.

"Sasuke…" Itachi croaked, his voice drying up. The skin all over his body was gradually losing its colour, turning to grey. "I am sorry… for everything…"

"Brother…" Sasuke bit his lip as if trying not to cry. I slipped over to him and put my arm around his shoulders.

"I could not… the Uchiha clan… their plan…" Itachi clutched at his side, wheezing. "That is why… I had to destroy… but I failed… Madara…"

His voice trailed off, almost to nothing so that we had to move forward to hear what he was saying. Gradually, pieces of his skin were flaking off and drifting away. I realised then that he was turning to ash.

"Madara… he will… carry out the plan. You… must stop him. Brother…"

"Itachi!" Sasuke snatched up his hand as it slowly crumbled. A last smile grew on Itachi's dry lips.

"You two… I believe in you."

With a dull whoosh, his entire body disintegrated. His clothes crumpled to the ground, filled only with a pile of grey ash.

I swallowed and looked at Sasuke where he was crouched, a small tear perched on the edge oh his lashes. He wiped it away quickly.

"I thought you hated him."

Sasuke shook his head. "I did, up until now. Up until he gave us a chance against Madara."

"Wh… What do you mean?"

He turned to look at Danzo who kept his cruel look, even under Sasuke's withering gaze. "I had no idea until I met this man face to face that Madara would entrust part of his life force to a human."

"Entrust… part of his life force? You mean like Kakashi and Obito?"

"Exactly," Sasuke nodded. "If we had tried to defeat Madara earlier, it would have been impossible."

"So you think you've won a great victory here?" Danzo leered. "Whether or not Madara has his immortality, he is still invincible."

"Itachi died to destroy the part of Madara's life force that you held. He gave his life to give us a chance and that is a chance that we'll make full use of when we come to face Madara."

Danzo laughed, though it sounded more like chains clashing together than any form of laughter I'd come across previously. "You'll never come up against him. I'll be the one to slaughter you here and I'll give Madara your heads as a gift!"

He took hold of his blood-stained sword and held it to attack. I readied my kodachi.

Our stand-off was interrupted by a sudden crash from the police station as the wall crumbled. Two men, a boy and a large wolf stepped out from the wreckage, the dust swirling around them.

"That's really not polite, Danzo-san," Obito said with a cheerful smile.

"You!" The Hunter roared, turning to face his new adversaries. The werewolf – Kiba – leapt over his head and skidded to a halt on his other flank. Kakashi and Jiraiya stood beside Obito, the only one among them who was armed.

I picked up Itachi's katana and threw it to Kakashi who caught it and swirled it deftly.

"You're outnumbered and surrounded, Danzo."

Danzo glanced around, finding Kakashi's words to be true.

"Kakashi-kun… you know this is a declaration of war on the Council of Hunters…"

"No!" Kakashi roared, his sudden change of tone making us all flinch. "You no longer deserve to be a part of the Council. You have turned on your own kind and betrayed us to a greater foe. The Council will declare war on you."

"You really think so? You think I have that little power?"

Jiraiya stepped forward, circling Danzo. "If you think Koharu and Homura will come to your aid then clearly you do not know them as I do. They will do all they can to save face after this debacle – even if it means turning against a former ally."

Danzo appeared speechless for a few seconds before recovering himself. "Whatever you say, I am strong enough to take all of you on."

"If you believe that," Sasuke said. "Then prove it. If not then run back to your master and tell him that we will not let him do as he pleases. We are not Hunters but we are comrades and we will fight!"

It seemed as though Danzo were about to attack and strike Sasuke but perhaps he thought better of it because he returned his sword to its scabbard and left with the words,

"It's all over anyway."

None of us understood his meaning but that wasn't important because, despite Danzo's sarcasm, we had certainly been victorious here. Our first victory in the fight against Madara and from now we were on the offensive.

"The two old folk have gone to plead with the Council," Jiraiya laughed, downing his fifth cup of sake.

I folded my arms, remaining silent with my sake untouched. We had set up camp in the ballroom of the mansion, well away from any innocent civilians in Konoha. It annoyed me though that we could do no more for the moment.

"Relax Naruto," Obito laughed, his face flushed from drinking rather more than he should have.

Kakashi's mobile phone sat at the centre of our informal circle. He had phoned Gaara as soon as Danzo had fled and we were waiting for news of Madara's army.

So far, there had been nothing. It was now nearly midday – more than eleven hours had passed since we had arrived; Madara should have begun his invasion six hours ago.

What was going on?

On the upside, at least the break had given me a chance to hear about Kakashi and Jiraiya's escape. It seemed that Obito had avoided being captured by Danzo's men and gone to seek help with the werewolves, who he knew had a bond with Kakashi. After nearly being mauled, he managed to convince Kiba to help him with a rescue attempt which took full advantage of our distraction.

The seconds ticked by.

I almost jumped as the phone rang.

Kakashi picked it up. "Gaara! You're safe." Clearly, I wasn't the only one who had been worried. "Uh huh… yeah. Interesting… well keep an eye out."

Kakashi ended the call. "Madara's army hasn't appeared. In all probability, it never left the Demon Realm."

"What?!"

* * *

**Author's note: **Judging by the lack of reviews last chapter, I think my writing must have suffered from disuse during that three week break. Still, I've condensed the storyline slightly now so we – hopefully – won't have any more mindless running from fight to fight… what was I thinking?


	20. Onwards

**Author's note: **I'm sorry to have kept you waiting all this time, but here's the next chapter. I'll try to update soon, though I'm not sure how possible that'll be with Christmas coming up and everything.

Jiraiya seems to have come off quite badly, re-reading this chapter. Just for the record, I do love him… it's probably because he's been drinking.

* * *

"What do you mean?" I jumped to my feet. "How can Madara's army have just stopped?"

Kakashi rested his chin on his hand, staring at the now silent phone. "There could be any number of reasons…"

"Waiting… for the right moment?" Kiba suggested, scratching his ear. He had temporarily reverted to human form, though since all his clothes were at home, we had had to find an old cloak to drape around him. It didn't cover his muscle-bound chest though, to which most of our eyes had been drawn at different times during the previous hours.

"It's possible," Jiraiya nodded, swaying slightly as he poured yet another cup of sake.

"If they're waiting for the opportune moment," Sasuke said from the darkest corner of the room. "Then they missed it. That would have been when we were distracted by Danzo's Hunters."

There was silence. I met Sasuke's eyes for a moment before looking to the floor. A streak of midday-sun was warming the side of my face where it had wormed its way through the drapes. There were tiny dust motes in it, swirling and swarming seemingly randomly.

"A distraction?" I suggested, watching the dust climb.

"But for what?" Kakashi asked. "Surely not for Danzo? Madara isn't the sort to delegate."

I looked to Sasuke who was staring at me intently, quite unlike Obito who sat beside him fiddling with a shuriken. "What about the second army… the one we thought was in reserve?"

"That's true," Sasuke acknowledged.

"What army's this?" Jiraiya growled. I had forgotten that we had omitted that part of the story when recounting what had happened.

"Madara split his army in two," Sasuke explained. "He led an army made up of the strongest demons towards the Wind Country while leaving a second army mostly of one-tailed demons behind."

"But then that's senseless," Jiraiya pointed out, reaching for the sake again. "Why would he use the strongest army as a deception and the weakest as the real attack force? Hey!"

Kakashi had snatched the sake bottle out of Jiraiya's hand and set it down out of his reach, leaving him with a child-like frown on his face.

"Jiraiya's right." Kakashi said. "Why would Madara use the weakest army?"

"Because we're not expecting it!" I almost shouted in my exasperation. "The one-tails can cause enough chaos and when we're all fighting them, Madara can sneak in and take over the world or whatever it is he's planning to do!"

"Use demons as cannon-fodder…" Sasuke murmured. "It's possible – he doesn't care for their lives – but still, it doesn't seem like his style."

I sighed and strode to the window, pulling the drapes back slightly to look outside.

"Careful with that light," Obito muttered. "I don't want sunburn."

I heard Sasuke stand and begin to pace. "Nevertheless… let us assume that the second army has something to do with his plan. We know that the army hasn't moved… Jugo would have sent word to us if it had…"

"Is it under a natural gateway between the Realms?" Kakashi asked quietly, almost as if he didn't want to interrupt Sasuke while he was thinking.

"No… wait… yes!" Sasuke's footsteps halted. "If I'm right, the location of the second army correlates almost exactly to where Madara's castle is."

I spun to face them. "Madara's castle? Then the separation between the Realms is weakened there…"

"Where Madara and I passed though, yes!" Sasuke's eyes were wide, a fanged-smirk on his lips. "So that's it! He'll bring the second army through there!"

"Then we have to stop him!" Kiba stood up, the cloak slipping off his body. He quickly grappled with it to cover himself up.

"Hold on," Jiraiya held up his hands. "We shouldn't rush into this. We don't know the entirety of his plan."

"And by the time we do know," I snapped, striding over to him. "It could be too late! We have to act now!"

"Naruto…" Sasuke said gravely. "You're right but… it's daylight."

I glanced to the window and back to him. My throat felt constricted as I replied.

"Then I'll have to go on ahead," I told him, tight-jawed. "But don't you forget to catch me up."

He nodded, smiling again. "You and Kiba should go – Kiba knows the way."

"What will you do?"

"Wait… and try to figure out what's going on. I'll take a look through the old Uchiha records to see if I can find any clues." He turned his attention to the others in the room. "Kakashi and Jiraiya – I need you to find whatever support you can from the remains of the Hunter's Council. When you have everyone you can find, take them to reinforce Gaara in the Wind Country."

"Shouldn't we split them – half to the Wind, half to the castle?" Jiraiya suggested.

"Not a good idea… I doubt you'll find enough men to split them effectively and besides, however we look at it, Madara still has an army ready to besiege the Wind. Naruto can handle Madara's castle and I'll head there as soon as the sun sets."

I felt my cheeks warm slightly. Sasuke's confidence in me had firmed my resolve… there was no way I'd let him down.

Obito twirled his shuriken. "What do I do – whoops!"

The shuriken slipped from his fingers. I didn't react in time as it came scything towards my leg.

There was a metallic chink and the shuriken spun off, digging into the floorboards by the window. I looked down at where its razor-sharp points should have ripped into my thigh. The hard patch on my trousers sparkled purple… it took me a few moments before I remembered the coloured liquid in the Demon Realm that turned into solid crystals when it was higher than ground-level… the liquid had soaked into the cloth and solidified.

"Crystal armour…" Sasuke stared at my leg. "Obito… I have a job for you too. Gather up as much cloth as you can find…"

Half an hour later and I was skimming across open country, clutching to the back of a werewolf, at the sort of speeds which tear the sweat from your skin. My hands were entwined in Kiba's fur, praying that my grip wouldn't fail me.

We traversed a patch of grassland in a flash and broke into the forest. I felt Kiba's muscles flex under me as he lithely slipped between the tree trunks that rose up in our path and the mossy branches that barred our passage.

It was spitting with rain. Sasuke had said that it would as we approached the Rain Country… I remembered the castle… silhouetted against a huge full moon, overlooking the pine forest which sheltered beneath it in the valley. It had been raining that time, when Itachi had taken me there… when I had lost Sasuke to the demon realm…

My stomach twisted at the thought.

Sasuke's parting kiss was still on my lips and his words in my heart. Before Kiba and I had left, Sasuke had taken me aside to where the others couldn't see us. We had kissed then, in a way that was different from our previous kisses. Rather than being a gentle, rhythmic thanks for being together, this was raw, animalistic and desperate.

His lips had met mine, his hands traversing my body and mine his, pushing against each other, scared… I knew that he would catch me up as soon as it was dark enough, as early as he could – he'd probably push it and set out at twilight. That wasn't why my heart was pounding in my chest, screaming to get out.

There were words that had been said unsaid. He'd never wished me good luck. He didn't need to because we both knew I'd need more than luck. One demon against an army…

No, his parting words were simple and warming… "I'll come back to you soon."

With that, I could face whatever came next.

There was a sudden sensation of weightlessness. Kiba had leapt to avoid an obstacle. I didn't notice in time.

His fur was slick with rainwater – my fingers slipped and the trees whooshed to stand at an alien angle as I tumbled backwards. The sky above was dark grey; the rain fell straight down, piercing like arrows.

As I fell, I saw the obstacle that Kiba had jumped… a huge crevice, like the land had been ripped open and left, the deep darkness pulling in victims from the surface. I couldn't see the bottom.

"Sasuke!" A single, illogical word came to my lips. There was no way he'd be here… I should have called for Kiba…

That terrifying moment of unsupported helplessness lasted only a split-second. I fell into the darkness – my back smashed against the side of the crevice, sending a cascade of soil and stones falling with me as I was tossed between the sheer walls, a ragdoll whose life was in the hands of the Gods who toyed with it.

No… I could do something. I concentrated, sending my demon energy bubbling to the edge of my skin, spreading over it. It coated my body like a suit of armour, cushioning my flesh against the jagged earth.

How far had I fallen? How much further? It couldn't be much further.

I kicked off from the earthen wall, twisting my body round and throwing my hands downwards. My demon vision flashed me an image of the ground, so close… just beneath my fingers. I forced a concentrated burst of energy to erupt from my hands.

I was thrown upwards, or perhaps I remained still. The soil splattered me as it shot skywards. My body felt like it was thrown back before slumping back and crashing into the muddy ground. Soil fell like rain all around me, and I just lay back, breathing heavily and feeling my lungs press against my ribs.

After half a dozen deep breaths, I saw Kiba's human head appear, tiny, at the top of the crevice.

"Are you alright?!" He shouted.

"Yeah…" I blinked the rain out my eyes and rose into a sitting position. "But I'm not sure how to get out of here!"

As the disturbed earth settled into a muddy crater, I realised that there was some sort of side-tunnel leading away from where I was. I cocked my head to the side as I investigated it. What was this place?

"How far are we from the castle?!" I called up to Kiba. It was a few moments before I heard his reply.

"Not far! You could walk it from here."

I nodded, though there was no way he could have seen the movement.

"Go on ahead!" I told him. "I have a feeling about this… when you get there, look for a cellar!"

"Got it!" I heard Kiba's reply in a muffled sort of way as I ducked into the low tunnel leading towards the castle. There had to be a reason for this hole to be here and somehow, coincidences didn't seem likely at this stage.

Thankfully, my ability to see in the dark had improved when I had absorbed the Kyubi's demon energy… certainly not to the nocturnal eyesight that Sasuke and Kiba possessed but enough to find my way down this tunnel.

And to see that the tunnel was strange… it had been propped up along the way, and the soil cleared neatly, in complete contrast to the jagged mess down which I had fallen. Still, there wasn't time to contemplate the tunnel's construction. I set off at a run, keeping low so as to not smack my head on the beams above me.

It was some time, dashing hunched-over, along the tunnel before I emerged, panting into a cavernous flag-stoned hall. This was no cellar… it was huge, at least four times the size of Sasuke's ballroom.

Most of the room, though was taken up by the largest cage I had ever seen – the bars were like small trees, reaching to the ceiling which was obscured by darkness.

Whatever was large enough to need a cage that large could not be good…


	21. Enter the Devil

My footsteps echoed loudly as I paced around the edge of the giant cage, squinting to try to see as much as possible in the dim light. I reached out to touch the bars and found them cold against my skin. Even stretching my fingers as far as possible, my hand only went halfway around the bar at best… they had to be exceptionally strong and presumably whatever was going in there was larger than me, seeing as I was pretty sure I'd be able to squeeze between those bars if I needed to.

I walked on, brushing my fingers over each bar. What I needed to find was a door, some way out of this room. It was a few moments before I realised that my footsteps were not the only ones in the room.

I stopped. My heart was beating fast, making it hard for me to listen properly.

The other footsteps had stopped. They had been slow and heavy but definitely human… not the light steps of a vampire or the uneven gait that was typical of a demon.

I strained to hear any sounds as I moved my hand to the hilt of my kodachi. Who was there?

The room was silent now, but I was certain someone was watching me… someone in the shadows… but no way to be sure…

Except… I'd never tried it before, but I had a plan that might just work. Gradually, this new demon energy had become more and more a part of me… over the previous night I had finally managed to stop being surprised every time I noticed my tail.

Of course, I'd primarily used demon energy for attacks but, if I could conjure a thin film of energy… I crouched, lowering myself into the deeper shadows.

After a final scan of the room, I closed my eyes and let the energy flow to the edge of my skin. It prickled onto the surface and began to spread out across the room. Almost immediately, I felt it push past the bars of the giant cage.

I spread the energy further out, looking for any disturbances that weren't a part of the cage…

There! It was faint but…

I jumped to my feet as a katana sliced past my face. Sparks leapt from the blade as it glanced off the stone wall and floor. Its wielder's head snapped up and he struck towards me again, relentless.

I blocked with my kodachi, hopping away from the severe old man.

"Danzo…" I hissed, raising my weapon into a defensive stance.

He laughed soullessly and stepped back, sheathing his katana. "You thought I'd just give up because of that arrogant fool, Jiraiya?"

"No." I relaxed my grip on my kodachi a little, letting my energy tingle in the palms of my hands. "I thought you'd have more sense than to play with forces beyond your control though. What's with the cage? What caused the chasm back there?"

"You saw the test area?" He steeped an eyebrow. "Well then, you'll understand the power that I _do _have in my control."

"Idiot!" I snarled. "Whatever you're doing here, it's not going to end well – not for you, not for any of us! Tell me what's going on and I can help you!"

"Help me?" He cackled, leaning against the edge of the cage for support. "You are the idiot if you think you can come here, say a few words and I'll agree with your weak-minded ways." He turned his back, walking away from me.

"Danzo, listen to me!" I shouted, lowering my kodachi. "Whatever Madara's told you, it's a lie! He's playing you – don't trust him!"

He stopped, mid-step and murmured under his breath. "And so we see the importance of research… Madara is the one being tricked…"

"what do you mean?" I breathed.

He paused, as if thinking about whether to respond. I took a small step forward. With unexpected elegance, he spun, slashing at me with his katana. Responding quickly, I blocked, and countered him.

Despite his apparent decrepitude, Danzo back-flipped and slid to a halt, his katana held steady in a perfect attack stance. Before I had a chance to catch my breath, he was upon me again, each strike of his blade flashing within a hair's breadth of my flesh.

I blocked and dodged each of his attacks but felt myself being pushed backwards. My back slammed into hard rock. I ducked beneath another attack. His sword rose sparks against the wall and I raised my leg, delivering a kick to his gut.

We moved apart, circling each other. He took a step to the side; I mirrored him. He raised his katana; I held my kodachi ready. He narrowed his eyes; I steadied my breath. This time I wouldn't be forced backwards… this time, I'd have the upper hand.

He dashed forward. I twisted around him, slicing at his back. He deflected but we were evenly matched. Our blades clashed together, our feet rose dust from the flagstones.

I jumped, striking downwards. He turned, slashing with his katana to cut my belly open… but I had anticipated his move.

Throwing one hand out, I fired the demon energy I had been gathering there. His body was blasted back, smashing into the flagstones. His katana stuck, quivering in the wall.

I sheathed my kodachi as I landed smoothly on the ground, glancing behind me to see Danzo's smoking, crumpled form.

His arms shook as he tried to raise himself off the ground, his face screwed up in pain. I sighed, watching him. Defeated, he was nothing but a sad old man.

"That's the thing with humans," a voice sneered from the very back of the room. "They're weak…"

"I'm… sorry, Madara-sama…" Danzo struggled to say, his voice trembling.

"No need for that." Madara moved in an instant from the far end of the room to just a few feet from Danzo. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're a slimy bastard?"

"I don't understand…" Danzo stuttered as Madara flicked his long, black hair over his shoulder.

"You planned to betray me… after my weapon was summoned, you planned to turn it against me and destroy the Demon Realm, correct?"

"No… no… Madara-sama!" I saw the sweat glisten on Danzo's features. "That's not true… it's…"

"Of course, Itachi wasn't much better," Madara muttered, inspecting his black-painted nails. "He co-operated me in the destruction of the Uchiha clan only so he could get close enough to kill me… it just goes to show that you can't rely on anyone else, can you, Naruto?" He turned suddenly, looking straight into my eyes.

"I don't understand…" I took a step away from him.

"Oh, of course, Sasuke-kun didn't tell you, did he?" Madara smiled sweetly. "Seeing as you're with him, I would have thought… well, I'm sure it's not important."

He sighed and went back to his nails. I was able to resist for a few moments before demanding to know what he was talking about.

He smirked, the triumph visible in his dark eyes. "Sasuke is my direct descendant… my blood runs in his veins and as such, vampire lore demands that he obeys my every command. Why do you think it was that the only thing his brother could do against me was to attack this worthless peon here?"

I glared at him. "If that were true, why would you want to destroy the Uchiha? You're saying that they're your slaves but that's not true – they must have been a threat!"

Madara laughed. "How observant… but you're wrong. I killed them on a whim… because their plan would never work; it was foolish, weak. They wanted to bargain with these worthless humans. I do not plead… I am Madara the Destroyer!"

I gritted my teeth. There was an urge within me to shout at him, to tell him he was insane, but that was pointless.

Danzo was breathing heavily, propped up against the wall. "Madara-sama… I swear…"

Madara looked down at him and wrinkled his nose slightly. "You're despicable… still, we shouldn't waste good food…"

Danzo screamed. His blood splattered the ground and wall around him. Madara had dived forward in a flash, his fangs tearing open Danzo's jugular. I stared, my eyes wide, unable to turn away as the black-haired vampire drained his victim's blood. Danzo's skin quickly turned pale, his bones pressing against the papery flesh as Madara drained him of every last drop of his blood.

Madara stood, wiping his mouth. Danzo's blue-lipped corpse slumped to the ground at his feet.

He licked his lips. "A little sour but refreshing…" His eyes rested on me. "I wonder… I haven't drunk a demon's blood before…"

I drew my kodachi, staring him down.

"Honestly…" He tutted and flicked his hand. My kodachi flew from my grip and landed, skidding across the flagstones on the other side of the room.

"Dammit!" I flung out my palm, blasting him with demon energy. He caught the ball of orange energy in his hand and held it up. I tried hard not to let my eyes be mesmerised by the swirling ball of twisting energy as it was absorbed into his skin.

As I stared at the point where my energy had disappeared, I saw a blue spark crackle between his fingers. My eyes widened.

I dived to the side as a bolt of lightning arced from his hand but I was too slow. The electricity caught me across the chest and flung me backwards.

My whole body was crackling, my back arched. The air rushed past me, roaring, culminating in a deafening blast as I hit the wall. Dust and rock fell about me, pattering against the flagstones.

Pain twisted through my body. Though I clenched my teeth together, it did little to dull the screaming of my flesh and muscles.

After many long moments of ragged breathing, I was able to raise my throbbing head slowly to stare at the dark cloaked figure stalking towards me. His long, white fangs stood out in the darkness.

"No…" I muttered. Sasuke was the only one who could… Sasuke… I…

There was a stinging pain on the side of my head. I touched my fingers to my temple. Warm, sticky. Blood.

Sasuke, where are you? You said you'd come. And here's the devil bearing down on me, grinning with hunger for my life. Sasuke, I need you.

My eyelids won't stay up… they slip down, making Madara flicker in and out of my vision… Why, Sasuke?

My eyes close… my neck feels cold… He's coming…

Sasuke, why aren't you here? Why aren't you beside me?

Why…?

* * *

**Author's note: **Danzo was pretty weak there, wasn't he? I don't like him in the manga so I was probably quite mean to him here, but oh well… I feel it's better just to have Madara as our villain. Hopefully the loose ends of the plot are starting to come together… I admit, I actually forgot what Itachi's and Danzo's motivations were going to be but this works. Or if it doesn't, don't worry because I doubt it'll have any relevance to anything that happens next.

I intend to update soon… there's no school tomorrow so I really don't have any excuse not to. See you all soon!


	22. The Cage

The pain, racking through every inch of my body. My lungs struggling on each breath, pressing against my tender ribs. It's a good indicator that Madara hasn't killed me.

I can't move though. My leg is bent at a strange angle, like some gnarled tree branch. There's the taste of blood in my mouth… I can feel it running down the side of my face… my clothes are saturated with it – its stench clings to me.

I try to move myself just a little, to a more comfortable position. A sudden spasm of pain erupts from my torso… I clench my teeth to stifle the scream.

Madara looks over at me. I see his figure, standing in the centre of the cage, dressed in flowing black robes as if he were some sort of cruel limb emerging from the darkness all around. His eyes are piercing red.

"You…" I try to speak, though the feeling in my chest is almost unbearable… my ribs must have shattered – the destruction around me is testament to the strength with which Madara hurled me against the wall. "Why… didn't…"

I cry out with the next wave of pain but Madara has already comprehended my thoughts.

"Why haven't I killed you?" He smirks and waves towards my throat. My arm won't move to touch it but I can feel the pain searing there, and the warm blood flowing from the gash. "Simply put, demon blood tastes disgusting."

I don't understand. Sasuke had drunk from me since I'd become a demon. Sasuke hadn't been disgusted.

Madara doesn't elaborate; he turns back to what he had been doing, placing his hands together.

The floor of the cage has been daubed with the largest, most intricate array of pentacles I have ever seen. In comparison, the pentacles we had used to return Obito to life were mere pencil circles on paper.

I have to stop him but I'm out of energy… I can't find words anymore, let alone stand up and fight. How long have I been here? It must have taken him hours to draw all those pentacles… half a day or more even at vampire speeds. That means it's probably night-time. I wonder where Sasuke is…

Would it really matter if I just close my eyes again? I could just sleep… there's nothing more I can do anyway…

Naruto… it sounds like someone's calling my name. Naruto, please. As if they're pleading with me. Why would anyone be pleading with me? Naruto, wake up. But I'm not asleep, am I? They're shaking me. Why are they shaking me? It hurts.

I gasp. My eyes flicker open. There's something blocking my view… a dark shape. A droplet falls on my face, cold and wet. It's followed by more drops, faster now. They're cool… it's nice.

The shape moves and something brushes my cheek. It feels… silky but with lots of different strands like fine thread or… hair – that's right, black hair against my cheek.

The shape moves away, turning from me. No, don't go! I want to fling out my hand to stop it from leaving but all I can do is twitch my fingers. Why is this so important to me?

They're talking now. That first voice, laughing. That's the devil.

"You arrive just in time, and the first thing you do is check on him?" I think the devil's sneering but I can't tell… his voice… it makes my skin shiver. "You really are foolish, Sasuke-kun."

Was that a name? I didn't quite hear it but it feels… special.

"I went to him, because I love him!" That's the black-haired shape speaking. His voice is familiar… it seems as natural to me as the wind in the trees or the sound of birdsong but I can't place it.

"Love? You would let the world go to ruin for a mere biological reflex?"

"It is more than that." My black-haired shape is moving further away from me, changing his position… crouching and reaching for something at his side… a weapon, perhaps? "Love is important to me! I will not forgive you for what you've done to him!"

Those droplets from before… I can hear them falling on the flagstones. A patter of cool, clear liquid.

He dashes forward suddenly. No! Why is he leaving me?

"Stop." The devil speaks and at his command, this black-haired hero freezes. Hero… why did I choose that word? "You see, you really are weak. Like your predecessors, you are under my command. You cannot strike me down, Sasuke-kun."

Sa… su… ke…

It's a name… Sasuke… his name!

"Sas…" I cough. My blood splatters my clothes; my chest feels as if it is being torn apart.

"Don't move!" Sasuke runs to me. He's holding me, cradling me. "You're going to be alright, Naruto! Just stay with me, okay?"

Those droplets again… so cool against my skin… tears – that's right. Sasuke's crying.

The devil is speaking again… I hear his voice but can't understand the words. Sasuke isn't responding – the devil isn't talking to him…

The words he intones are loud, booming and rhythmic. They're unfamiliar… a chant, maybe? An incantation? Yes… he's standing inside those pentacles… a summoning… he's summoning something…

"Sasuke…" My lips move but there is no sound. I have to warn Sasuke… the world is in danger. Madara – the devil – we have to stop him.

The words cease abruptly. Madara stands at the centre of the cage, his arms outstretched to either side of him, tingling with electricity. Blue sparks jump from his fingertips to the ground.

"Sasuke!" My hand closes around his wrist. Pain shoots up my arm but it's alright… I can bear that pain for Sasuke. It's good anyway, it helps rouse me.

"Naruto, don't try to move!" Sasuke's frowning… he must be concerned… I shouldn't make him worry.

"I'm… fine…" I manage to utter through clenched teeth. Sasuke says something but I don't hear it – Madara has screamed something out in that unknown language. The lightning shoots off from his finger tips, hitting each of the many hundred pentacles all around him. The text flashes blue and white, cracking and throwing up sparks.

The room is filled with the roar of thunder and the flickering blue lightning until everything disappears in a bright white flash.

Was that it? Did Madara win? Are we dead?

I can feel Sasuke's wrist still in my hand… if we're dead then that's okay. I'm with him.

But it still hurts… and there's cold, manic laughter. I blink, clearing the spots from my vision and I see the cage. Madara is no longer inside… he's standing in front of us, turned towards the cage and laughing.

Inside, there is movement. A hundred or so demons, in a multitude of shapes and colours scrabble over each other. They're fighting… I watch as a cat-like demon pounces on a shrew and sinks its teeth into its prey. The shrew shrivels up, its energy transferred into the cat, manifesting itself as a second tail.

There is a smirk on Madara's face as he turns to us. "I'll leave you two to watch the destruction of the world. Oh, and Sasuke-kun – I forbid you from interfering… not that there's anything you can do to stop it."

"Bastard!" Sasuke shouts, but Madara just laughs at his outburst. He raises his arm, concealing himself behind the sleeve of his cloak and with a ruffle of material, he vanishes.

I try to get up. It seems my leg is broken… I'll have to drag it.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sasuke asks, desperately trying to make me sit back down. I can resist him so he's probably being careful not to hurt me… not that I'd notice any more pain right now.

The initial fight inside the cage is quickly over… the demons left inside are huge… I try to count the tails… eight, nine, even ten tails… How many demons are there? It's hard to tell… Perhaps ten, circling each other – some of the one-tails had managed to escape, slipping between the bars if they were small enough but these are too large for that.

"Stop moving – you'll hurt yourself!" Sasuke's hands are on my shoulders, holding me back as I crawl towards the cage.

"I… can't do… nothing," I tell him. I reach out, closing my hand around one of the bars. One of the demons strikes… there's a desperate struggle of flailing tails before the smaller one is absorbed, but the victor is weak – two of the others attack from the other side…

I remember the story Sasuke had told me… about the fourteen-tailed demon… it had exploded, leaving destruction all around… and now, in this cage there was a demon with… how many? Twenty or thirty tails, bearing down on yet more.

"If… if that thing…" I clutch my side. I have to talk… I have to make Sasuke understand. "It'll destroy… everything…"

"I know," Sasuke whispered. "But you can't stop it… this is Madara's plan – to destroy the human race in one go. He's driven by hatred… like I was before I met you."

"I… have to try!" I screamed, throwing myself between the bars of the cage. They were buckling outwards with the energy inside. Just two demons left now, each with about fifty tails – they were shimmering, as if about to explode but while they were occupied in the fight, it seemed unlikely that they would… it wasn't until one had won that…

"Naruto!" Sasuke gripped the bars. He was larger than me – he wouldn't fit through.

"I don't want to lose you!" I shouted, raising my battered body off the ground. My leg buckled under me and I cried out but I buried the pain, carrying on. This is for Sasuke. This is for us. This is for everyone.

I shuffled forward. My hands were slippery with my own blood but I kept moving. I had to get there. Don't let me be too late!

One of the demons' eyes flickered towards me. It was a moment of opportunity for the other.

It leapt forward, slamming into the first demon which smashed into the side of the cage. The bars bent outwards, a couple even snapping. Their claws and fangs tore at one another. After this last fight, it would all be over…

I pushed myself forward, onto my legs. For a few steps, I was running, before I stumbled and fell, crashing to the flagstones.

Sasuke was calling my name… I had to ignore him though. One of the demons had come out on top, the loser squirming beneath it as the energy was absorbed.

Adrenaline had dulled my pain already and now my body was in overdrive. As ever more tails sprouted from the demon, I knew I had to run again.

My feet twisted under me. My skin was slick with sweat and blood but I had to keep going. The demon being absorbed appeared to give up, its tails disappearing at an ever greater rate until there was only a handful left.

This was my last chance. I put all my energy into one last leap forward towards the hundred-tailed beast that would destroy the world.

It was too much strain on my body; I felt my thigh bone shatter, the shards tearing my flesh and arteries like fragments of glass. I screamed, tumbling through the air.

The remains of the smaller demon vanished into the jaws of the larger. Its mouth was about to close.

My heart pounded, contorting my fractured ribs.

In overwhelming broken agony, I sailed between the closing fangs, and felt my form being sucked into the giant monster…

* * *

**Author's note: **I don't know what you think of most of that being written in the present tense… I felt it fitted with the position Naruto was in but it could be that it didn't work at all. Do vampires cry? Well Sasuke does, so we'll say they do… I don't think I've made him go through this much emotion before…

Anyway, as updates go, you'll be really annoyed if I say I'm going away over Christmas and won't be able to update, won't you? Well I'll try to get another chapter up before then but if I don't, I'll definitely get it up for New Year. Sorry if I make you wait.


	23. Belly of the Beast

**Author's note: **It's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that - I had exams and then stuff… and laziness, that was a big part of it. Anyway, I'm continuing where I left off. If you want it, here's a quick recap of the story so far. I say quick but it's actually rather long. The story starts after the line so feel free to skip to there.

**The story so far:** Naruto goes on a hiking trip in Black Horn Woods with Kakashi-sensei. Meets a vampire called Sasuke. Time skip to next morning. Naruto wakes up in Sasuke's run-down mansion.

Enter Kakashi to say Obito's body has been dug up. Naruto and Sasuke catch a plane and Sasuke leaves Naruto with the Sand Siblings for safety. And then Itachi kidnaps Naruto… But Naruto escapes and meets up with Kiba and they go to Madara's castle in time to fight Madara. However, Naruto takes up Sasuke's sword and accidentally traps both Sasuke and Madara in the Demon Realm.

Naruto goes off to train with the Sand Siblings. Itachi contacts Naruto via telepathy and says he'll help him save Sasuke if Naruto brings him his signet ring. Naruto steals the ring from Danzo and takes it to Itachi. Itachi reveals he killed the Uchiha on the Hunter Council's orders. They fight. Naruto lets the Kyubi take control of his body… and wakes up in Konoha. Using Itachi's blood, they revive Obito. Obito sends Naruto to the demon world where he is separated from Kyubi and becomes a one-tailed demon.

Naruto and Sasuke are reunited! But Madara's moving his army so they return to the Human Realm to rescue Kakashi and Jiraiya… Naruto sets off to stop Madara from combining loads of one-tailed demon's into a giant demon-bomb and, at the last moment, jumps into the jaws of the resultant super-demon…

* * *

The pain had vanished entirely. That was something at least. It was probably less good that I couldn't feel my body whatsoever.

I tried to look around but my vision was blurred; I could only really sense my environment… a bubbling, raging fury of energy… like a volcano or a fizzy drink – I couldn't decide which.

Was I floating? Swimming, perhaps, or flying? It was hard to say… I'd have to know where my body was to work that out and since I couldn't find it anywhere…

My memory, too, was hazy. The giant cage… the demons. An image came to me, a momentary picture of a behemoth with so many tails, its body was distorted beyond all recognition. A mass of energy large enough to obliterate the entire Human Realm and unstable enough to explode outwards at any second.

"Hello?" I tried to speak. I had no mouth to make a sound, but somehow I heard the words aloud in my head. There were responses too – small pitiful moans, the voices of the demons who had been absorbed, their consciousnesses quickly fading to nothing but a memory of an existence, washing away like the sand on a beach.

I tried calling out again. If only I could reach the hundred-tail's mind… and then what? Reason with it? I had to try… surely it wouldn't want its own destruction. There was no way to appeal to its better nature, but to its selfishness – there I had an opening.

A strange thought crossed my mind. Here I was, a demon trapped within a larger creature, trying to catch its attention, to convince it to my point of view. I was this demon's Kyubi; a voice within its stomach. Was I so different from Kyubi after all?

Yes, of course I was. The Kyubi fought only for itself… I'm more than that. I'm fighting for… what was I fighting for, again? Everything was so fluid inside the belly of the demon… it's so easy just to let go, to let your mind drift away.

That made sense, of course. There was no need to worry; just let someone else do the thinking… I could float along, letting the tide carry away my troubles. Assuming I was floating… or was I drifting like a cloud, looking down at rolling green hills without a care in the world.

Not that it mattered. Was I supposed to be saving humankind or something? What was the point in that? Everything has its time to pass… pass by… pass on…

I could let everything pass, let everything go. Nothing's tying me down. Just let go.

Sasuke.

Everything would be alright. There was no need to trouble myself with anything. Sasuke. Who was Sasuke? Hadn't I forgotten his name once already today? But that was okay because I had been hurt at the time. If you're not trying to go against the tide, you won't get hurt. Follow the current and there's nothing to harm you.

But… if there's nothing to hurt you, there's nothing to make you feel. Although, why would I want to feel when I can be at peace? Pure, blissful nothing.

Sasuke… Sasuke's why I want to feel. That's why I want to… no, why I must go against the tide. If the current batters me then so be it. If it tears everything inch of my body then so be it. If there's so much pain I can't go on then so be it.

None of that matters because I have to go against the tide. I have to struggle. I have to be with Sasuke.

"Demon!" I shouted. My mind snapped back to me. What had I been thinking? "Listen to me!"

It took some time before the demon could respond. Its thinking was slow, trying to cope with the sheer mass of energy within it.

"What… are you?" It asked, its voice deep and booming, pressing against my eardrums… or it would be if I had any. It compressed my mind, anyway, and that was uncomfortable enough.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," I replied. "I'm asking for you to listen to me."

"Why… why do you remain?"

I couldn't hear any of the other demons anymore. Their voices were silent, their consciousnesses now no more than swirls of energy absorbed into the demon.

"I remain because I choose to. Because I have to."

"Why do you have to?" The demon was thinking faster now, taking less time to reply but its questions were still inane.

"Because you've absorbed too much energy," I told it, praying that my words would get through. "It'll rip you apart and destroy the entire realm. Do you understand that?"

There was silence, save for the bubbling of energy. "No," it said eventually.

I let out a lung-less sigh. "Alright, I'll try to explain simply." What was I doing, trying to explain something simply to someone? Was this demon that stupid… or had I gained knowledge? I'd gained so much over the last few weeks – the ability to fight, friends who support me with all their hearts, some much needed common sense… and Sasuke…

"Listen, you have to let go of some of you power," I said. No point explaining why, I just had to tell the demon what to do. "If not, you're going to explode. Ka-boom! You'll die."

"I… I still don't understand."

Dammit… how much time did I have? Was this conversation happening in real time? I didn't think it could be – I must have spent hours thinking I was on a beach; if that were the case, everything would be over by now.

But time wasn't standing still either – the energy was moving faster than earlier, not in any particular direction but whipping around me, trying to escape and the demon was holding it in, containing it…

"Death! You understand death, don't you?" I snapped desperately.

"Death… you mean, ceasing to exist?"

"Yes, exactly!" Finally, somewhere I could work from.

"I don't think I understand that. How can I not exist? I exist now… is it possible not to exist… just I can't imagine not existing…"

Back to square one. "Just believe me. Let go of the energy or it's over!"

"I… I…" The demon was thinking far harder than it had before. Unfortunately, the energy was moving faster. This was my last chance… if I could convince it to let go now then I could save everyone. If not… "I don't think I want to. No! It's my energy, my power," it said, finally sounding definite… just definite about the wrong decision. "I fought for it! It's mine… you'll take it from me! You're a liar and a sneak… trying to trick me!"

It was too late. The demon would explode any moment now. The Human Realm would be vaporised… that would be it. Maybe some could survive but Madara still had his army. He wouldn't let any humans live.

There was nothing I could do. If only I were with Sasuke… Why had I wasted my last few moments to be with him on some stupid slither of a chance.

Probably because it had looked like more than a slither… or maybe it was the only chance I'd had. And of course, the only way to live is against the tide.

Even when the current is too strong…

"That's right!" The demon announced triumphantly. "It's mine – I won't give it away."

"No…" I murmured. "No you won't give it away. Which is why I'll have to take it."

These bubbles had been flowing past me for so long now… I spread my concentration, drawing the energy towards me, feeding my own consciousness. I felt my awareness grow, feeling the energy struggle to burst from the edges of the demon. Instead, I drew it back, away from the edges, into me.

Demons have the ability to absorb other demons. Whoever said it had to be the big demons that absorb the little ones?

"What… what are you doing?" The demon quavered.

"Don't worry… I'll let you go with a single tail." It was too late for the others – they were just energy now – but this one could be spared… maybe it'd realise its mistake.

I felt a physical form condense from the energy around me. My own body. How bizarre to feel the cells of your bones lock into each other, combining, connecting, slotting together to form a skeleton. To feel the tingle as muscles and tendons arc from the bones, binding the joints together. And then the steady accumulation of weight as buzzing cells clump into organs; my heart, beating in my ribcage, my lungs expanding, sucking in air and energy, my intestines curling up in my abdomen…

A sudden rush as skin covered my flesh, running up my arms, across my back and down my legs until it covered every inch of me… and finally my demon ears and tail sprouting from my body.

But that wasn't it… more and more energy flowed into me. My tail split and multiplied over and over until a mass of tails hovered over me and sparks leapt from my fingertips and crackled in my hair.

The room rushed back to me. The cage, torn apart from the battle. The warped and shattered flagstones. The other demon, crawling away, its last tail between its legs. And Sasuke… Sasuke kneeling on the other side of the cage, gripping the bars.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of a hundred tails' worth of energy flowing in my veins. Not that I could keep it. Not that I wanted to. There was only one thing I wanted.

I flung my arms out, letting the energy go, rushing up through me and erupting like a geezer. The room was illuminated suddenly by the orange light as if a small sun had been ignited where I stood.

My brand new heart nearly stopped at the thought of Sasuke's skin being burnt by so much light… but it was okay. Sasuke hadn't moved; his skin was intact. This wasn't UV light… he could withstand it.

I smiled… we were perfect together.

Suddenly, the flow of energy leapt and my head snapped back as it roared upwards, leaving my body. What was left of the metal roof of the cage bubbled and turned to vapour, rising to the ceiling in broiling clouds. But the ceiling was already gone, the pillar of energy tearing through rock and stone and leaving nothing but light and sound.

And then it was over.

I fell to my knees, gasping for breath. I still had… how many tails? Ten? Twelve? More than I needed but few enough that I wouldn't blow up. After a few moments, the rain began to fall through the gaping hole above me, splattering my body in huge droplets.

Sasuke squeezed between the twisted bars and ran to me, flinging his arms around my body as debris crumbled from above.

"Naruto," he whispered, into my hair. "I love you so much."

"Me too," I replied, pressing my face against his chest. "Who needs a beach anyway?"

A small cough at the edge of the room interrupted us. "Uh… was it you guys who just destroyed the castle?" Kiba asked.

"Now's not the time," Sasuke chided him.

"Geez, yeah, I know," he rubbed the back of his neck. "But now ain't the time to be sitting around all lovey-dovey either."

"Naruto just saved the world," Sasuke pointed out. I felt my cheeks burn. "I think we deserve a few moments."

"Fine, fine," Kiba shrugged. "But it's not over yet."

"Kiba's right," Sasuke murmured. "Madara's army is still large enough to obliterate mankind…"

I shook my head, withdrawing from the embrace. "No it's not because we're going to stop him." I stood up. "I don't care how powerful he thinks he is or how many demons he has behind him. Whatever he has, we've got something better; the will never to give up! He can try all he wants but he'll never win as long as we continue to believe in each other and never give up the struggle! Dattebayo!"

"Naruto," Sasuke said after a few moments. "You're not wearing any clothes."


	24. Flight

**Author's note: **Okay, that took longer to get around to finishing than I'd anticipated but I've come to the conclusion that anything under four months is acceptable so it's all okay. We join Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba right where we left off last time...

* * *

"Naruto," Sasuke said. "You're not wearing any clothes."

"You're such a hypocrite," Kiba laughed.

"And neither's Kiba," Sasuke mused as he got to his feet. "Maybe I'm the one who's overdressed here…"

"No you're not," I assured him and leant in to add, "at least, not while Kiba's here."

Sasuke glanced over my shoulder at Kiba and raised his eyebrows. "Why not while he's here?" He smirked.

"Sasuke!" I clicked my fingers in front of his face. "Stop looking at Kiba. And Kiba, stop looking at me!"

"You know," Sasuke murmured, apparently serious once more. "While it's a shame not to enjoy this, you have more than enough tails to shape-shift now."

I twisted around to look at my dozen tails. Twelve… that demon in the desert had been able to shape-shift with only four. I closed my eyes and concentrated.

"How's that?" I asked.

"Cute," Sasuke observed. "But I'm not sure you'll want anyone apart from me seeing you like that…"

The only response from Kiba was a muffled snickering. I opened my eyes to find I was wearing a frilly pink dress, complete with a lacy cap. I tutted, trying to avoid blushing and tried again. This time I was able to produce a replica of the clothes Temari had brought for me – orange three-quarter lengths, a black tee-shirt with a red swirl, scarf and flame-edged coat.

"That's better," I said, straightening the collar of my coat.

"If less exciting…" Sasuke muttered. I chose to ignore him.

"Still too many tails though…" I concentrated for a third time and managed to hide eleven of the tails, bringing the number down to a more manageable one. "Kiba, go and find yourself a cloak or something."

"Huh, yeah right," Kiba tutted. "You're the one with the problem; you go fetch it."

"I thought you were a werewolf," Sasuke said, leaning casually against the twisted bars of the cage. "Isn't fetching what you do best?"

"Why you!" Kiba clenched his fists and took a step forward.

"Sasuke," I laughed. "Don't tease him. And Kiba, you shouldn't get so worked up. Besides, it's not important – go to the Wind Country and meet up with Kakashi-sensei. We'll be right behind you."

"Gotcha," Kiba turned and ran off, through a doorway that had been concealed by darkness at the far end of the room, transforming as he went.

"What are we waiting for?" Sasuke asked. "Unless… I suppose, if we're quick…"

"I'm looking for my kodachi," I explained, scanning the edge of the room for a glint of metal. "Seriously, why is your mind in the gutter all of a sudden?"

"I'm just relieved," he shrugged. "More to the point, why isn't yours? Oh, isn't that it over there?"

I looked to see where he was pointing. There was my kodachi, laying on the flagstones, its saya a few metres away. I retrieved both and slipped them through my belt.

"Are you going to be alright for the journey?" Sasuke asked with a frown. "It's a long way and we'll have to go at least part-way by foot. You were pretty badly hurt when I got here…"

"Sasuke," I shook my head. "My body's brand new and I've got more power inside me than I've ever had before… probably more than any other demon. I should be asking you whether you're going to be alright."

"Fair point. Still, it's a long way… I don't know if we can get there in time and I can't travel by day…"

"No problem," I grinned. "Get on my back."

Hesitantly, Sasuke obliged, wrapping his arms and legs around me.

"Why are we doing this?" He asked. "Wait… is it…?"

"No, Sasuke, it's not!" I snapped. "Just hold on…"

I raised my head, to look up through the hole I'd blasted in the ground. The raindrops fell on my face and ran down my cheeks. I blinked the water out my eyes.

"You know," I smiled. "It used to be me never knowing what you were thinking."

"At this point," Sasuke said. "I kind of miss that arrangement." I felt his chest move as he chuckled. "So are we going after Kiba or not?" He asked, nodding towards the door.

"Not in that direction…" I bent my knees, letting my surplus energy collect in a raging storm at the balls of my feet. "Hold on tight!"

The energy shot downwards. There was a moment of weightlessness as the floor disintegrated, the shattered flagstones and clouds of dust rising up… And then we shot upwards, faster than a crossbow bolt.

The air pulled at our skin as we sliced through it, racing towards the black night.

Sasuke gripped me tight. "Naruto," he gasped. "This is fantastic!"

"You were the one," I reminded him. "That taught me how to use my energy!"

There was a sudden rush of sound as we tore through the rain clouds, the water soaking us as if we'd jumped straight into a waterfall. And as suddenly as we'd entered them, we were out, high above the clouds in the cool, still air beneath the star-speckled sky.

Our assent gradually slowed, until we were floating at the edge of the atmosphere. From here, we could see the curvature of the land and a dazzling blue line encompassing the world.

Sasuke's lips touched my neck. "It's so beautiful…"

I nodded. "Which is all the more reason for us to stop Madara… which way is West?"

"To your left."

"Alright!" I felt Sasuke's grip tighten again. "Let's go!"

I twisted my body and supplied another wave of energy to my feet, causing us to shoot forwards, towards the Wind Country.

We burst through the clouds once more, leaving a trail of wispy white vapour behind us. The forest appeared faster than I expected and we dived into the tree tops, the leafy branches whipping at us and snapping off as he darted through. The ground exploded as we hit it, shattering the trees around and we ripped back up through the canopy, sailing over the edge of the forest and out over grasslands and meandering rivers.

I kicked off from a floodplain, leaving a squishy crater that quickly filled with water, giving us enough height to pass over a cliff and into the rocky mountain range that separated us from the desert.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted in my ear. "Mind that mountain!"

His warning was unnecessary; I had already seen it and anticipated it. I braced myself, hitting the mountain with my shoulder, sending hunks of rock searing through the air behind us and tumbling down the mountainside in huge columns of dust. We kept racing forward as the mountaintop crumbled in our wake.

The mountain range soon fell away beneath it to be replaced by the rolling dunes of the desert. Sunagakure rose on the horizon.

I twisted to the right to avoid crashing into its high stone walls. As we passed close to the ground, the sand was sucked up into a swirling vortex behind us, a long streak marking our passage. I thought I saw a series of startled heads behind the battlements but we had already overshot the town. A huge dune rose up suddenly ahead of us. We crashed into it the sand erupting as we were flung into the next dune.

Sasuke's hands slipped from around my neck as I skimmed across the sand, coming to land on my back among a cloud of gradually settling sand.

I lay back for a few minutes, catching my breath.

"Landing could have gone smoother," Sasuke remarked, standing up some distance away and brushing himself off. "But otherwise, a pretty flawless flight."

"You bet!" I called back. "I used up two tails on that."

"You used them up?"

"Yeah," I said, finding my feet in the soft sand. "These extra tails aren't part of me, I don't think. As I use the energy, I'll gradually release the tails until there's just my one left."

"That's not good…"

"It's fine," I grinned. "Ten tails is enough to defeat Madara and after that, I won't need more than one."

"Well, I guess that's alright then," Sasuke said, climbing to the top of the nearest dune. "Just don't go using them unnecessarily. And I guess we'd better find you some real clothes before you drop below four tails…"

"We can do that when we get to Sunagakure."

"Which is a couple of kilometres in that direction…" Sasuke pointed back along the trail of sand that still hung in the air.

"I could probably get us there if I judged the distance correctly," I said, thinking about how many tails I had left.

"No, Naruto," Sasuke smirked. "We'd probably end up in the mountains again."

"Well, then I guess we're walking…"

"I don't think so… that looks like a vehicle over there."

I climbed the dune to stand beside him and looked out over the undulating desert. Far in the distance, just leaving the town walls, was indeed a vehicle. The huge floodlights on the roof illuminated large swathes of ground as it roared across the sand, whipping up clouds of dust in its path.

The lights dipped as the vehicle dropped into a furrow of the dunes and I made out the red bodywork in the dim light.

"It's Temari!" I said, recognising her old SUV. "Come on, let's go meet her!"

I ran down the side of the sand dune, the ground shifting and subsiding under my feet so that I was more sliding than anything else. Sasuke was just behind me.

It felt good to be back here, in the Wind Country. The night breeze brushed over my skin, so much more comfortable than the sweltering daytime heat. The fact that this time Sasuke was with me made it even better… I could almost forget about Madara's army, poised to attack.

Temari drove fast and before long, she had pulled up in front of us, the fierce beams of her lights blinding us.

"You decided to come back, then?" She tutted, throwing the passenger door open. I got in, slamming the ill-fitting door while Sasuke slid into the backseat which I noticed was no longer an armoury.

"We've distributed the weapons among the townsfolk," Temari explained. The gearbox groaned as she whacked the lever into reverse and slammed her foot on the accelerator, spinning the wheel to full lock. Sasuke and I reached for our seatbelts simultaneously while Temari changed gears with a grinding sound and floored it back towards the town.

"Has Kakashi-san arrived?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, he's here," Temari said, glancing in the rear-view mirror. "He's caused rather a commotion though… the Sunagakure Council aren't happy about his presence. I dread to think what they're going to make of a demon and a vampire. Still, at least you haven't brought any werewolves."

"Um… actually," I admitted. "Kiba's coming along somewhere behind us."

"Oh boy!" Temari smacked her head against the steering wheel.

"Mind that dune!" Sasuke shouted from the back.

The SUV leapt over the peak of the dune and landed on the other side, two wheels off the ground. Temari grappled with the wheel, the tyres spinning for grip in mid-air. We teetered for a few moments before the wheels slammed back into the sand and Temari was racing forward again as if nothing had happened.

"I think I preferred your flying, Naruto…" Sasuke muttered.

"It's really going to hit the fan soon though," Temari said through gritted teeth. "Gaara's with the council. Chiyo and Ebizo are there but those three are the only hunters… it's tough getting them to understand anything about demons. They distrust anything remotely out of the normal… hence the ban on Kakashi-san coming here…"

She slowed down a little as we neared the gate to Sunagakure, though she was still driving too fast. Fortunately, the gatekeepers had seen us coming and had time to open the gates. It didn't stop Temari from scraping a layer of paint off her wing mirror, though.

"Don't they realise how much danger Madara puts us in?" I asked, bracing myself as Temari swerved around a flock of chickens in the unmade road.

"They're politicians. Don't expect them to realise anything that isn't profitable to them."

"But Gaara-san's reasoning with them?" Sasuke said. A small group of men with crossbows jumped out of our way.

"Not reasoning as such…" Temari braked hard, screeching to a halt outside a grandiose pillared building.

Gaara came down the steps, running his fingers through his hair. He nodded at Temari who wound down her window.

"That's it," he said. "I've dissolved the council. There's no turning back now."


	25. Birth of a Plan

"Naruto!" Kakashi ran up and pulled me into an embrace as soon as he saw me approach. "I'm glad you're safe. You too, Sasuke. Where's Kiba?"

"He's taking the slow route," Sasuke smirked. "What of you? How have the preparations gone?"

"As well as can be expected," he gestured for us to follow him into the small white-washed building that was serving as a temporary headquarters. I removed my shoes and left them in the tiled hallway before entering the main room where Jiraiya, Obito and Kankuro were gathered around a large wooden table, laid out with maps and charts, lit by oil lamps.

Temari, Chiyo and Ebizo entered after us, with Gaara coming in last, a grim look on his face.

"How did it go?" Kakashi asked.

Gaara shook his head. "I had to dissolve the council… they just weren't listening."

I leant over to Sasuke. "What does that mean?"

"He's taken full control of Sunagakure," Sasuke explained. "The council no longer has a say in matters; Gaara has made himself dictator."

"It was necessary," Kakashi assured him.

"There's gonna be hell to pay afterwards, though," Kankuro said. Temari gave his shoulder a punch.

"Afterwards is afterwards," she said. "For now we have to concentrate on defending Sunagakure."

"Not just Sunagakure," Jiraiya said, rolling out a larger map. "If the defence here falls, then the rest of the world is laid open to Madara's armies… If we don't stop him here then it's over for mankind."

"Way to put the pressure on." Temari rolled her eyes.

"Sunagakure won't fall," Chiyo growled. "This city has stood for thousands of years. We've been besieged before and not once has an enemy passed through the walls."

"You've never faced an army like this before," Jiraiya pointed out. "I don't mean to be pessimistic but I'm a lone fighter. I like to do these things one-on-one, not against an army."

"Which is why you should leave it to us," Chiyo snapped.

"You young folks have no idea," Ebizo murmured in agreement. "Why, back in my day, I could take on whole legions of demons before teatime!"

"Enough," Gaara said, pushing between the old siblings to get a better look at the table. "Our biggest problem is that Madara's plan remains a mystery… Presumably he has anticipated our defence here…"

"I don't think so," Sasuke said. He gave me a little push forward. "Naruto?"

"What? Me?" I frowned before realising what he wanted me to say. "Ah yes, Madara's plan." I stepped forward, rotating the larger map so I could read it. Now where was the Rain Country…? Sasuke discretely pointed to an area marked by dense forestation.

"Thanks," I said in an undertone. "Madara's plan was to summon a whole load of demons here," I tapped the map dramatically. "Under his castle in the Rain Country."

"His intention," Sasuke continued where I'd left off. "Was to let the demons fight and consume each other until the last remaining one was so large that it would detonate and wipe out most of the Human Realm."

"And you stopped it, Sasuke-kun?" Obito whistled. "That's pretty impressive."

"Not me; that was all down to Naruto," Sasuke put his arm around me. I blushed.

"What? The brat saved us?" Kankuro raised his eyebrows. Temari punched him again.

"That means Madara may not be expecting any opposition," Gaara said, studying the maps once more. "That could be a significant advantage for us. Obito, where was it you said he had his army."

"About here," Obito said, waving his hand around a relatively large area on another map which showed the Demon Realm. "It's spread over a pretty large area – 'twas a hell of a job sneaking past 'em." He gave Sasuke a dark look.

"Then why didn't you go further north?"

"'Cause that's the long way 'round. Still, I got what you asked for and I delivered that message too."

"What message is this?" Temari asked.

"I have allies in the Demon Realm," Sasuke said. "Obito, you say the army's spread over a large area… could that mean Madara's trying to make it look bigger than it is?"

"Bigger?" Obito laughed. "The demons _themselves_ aren't spread out – they're practically rubbing shoulders. It's just that there's so many of them that the army is spread out."

"Can you give us an estimate of how many?" Gaara rested his hands on the table.

"Hard to say…" Obito blew out his cheeks. "Ten thousand, maybe more."

Gaara clenched his fists. "How many do you have?" Sasuke asked him.

"Four hundred," he replied. "Temari, go to the town hall. Ask for any able bodied men or women who are willing to fight."

"Age limit?"

Gaara closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. "If they claim to be over sixteen, take them."

Temari nodded and slipped outside, passing a short-haired girl in the doorway. She carried a crossbow and wore a vest of glittering purple crystals.

"Gaara-sama," the girl saluted. "Everyone's wearing the armour. We're waiting for your orders."

"Thank you, Matsuri-chan," Gaara smiled weakly. "I'll be out soon. Go with Temari – we're hoping for more volunteers."

"Hai!" She dashed out, almost skipping.

"Someone has a crush on you," Kakashi remarked.

"I just wish it weren't in such troubled times…" He ran his hand through his hair, his fingers traversing the tattoo on his forehead.

"That crystal armour is pretty neat," Kankuro said. "Not really my colour but still… it seems to be impervious to most attacks."

"Thanks to Naruto again," Sasuke smiled.

"Hey!" Obito objected. "And me – not only did I lug all that cloth down to the Demon Realm to soak it in the crystal water but _I_ was the one who first discovered its defensive properties."

"By being careless with a shuriken…"

"Regardless," Gaara interrupted quickly. "We're thankful to both of you. Hopefully, that armour will save many lives."

"But it'll be worthless if we're unprepared," Jiraiya commented.

"I don't know," Chiyo said sharply. "You seem to have spent most of your life unprepared, young man, and you're still alive."

"Excuse me?" Jiraiya almost laughed with indignation. "_Young _man?"

"When you're at our age," Ebizo said. "Everyone starts looking young."

"Then the answer is that you two are old!"

"Please," Gaara held up his hands. "It's important that we get along here. We're all in this together. Alright?"

"I am if they are," Jiraiya pouted.

"We weren't the one's who started it," Chiyo sniffed.

"What? Say that again, you old bat!"

"Who are you calling an old bat? At least I'm not a pervert!"

"I'll have you know that back home, I am known as a sage!"

"Would that be a pervy sage?"

"Enough!" Gaara slammed his hands down. "Thank you. Now, Kakashi-san, I respect your opinion; I've yet to see one of your predictions be proved false. What do you think Madara will do?"

"Geez," Kakashi scratched his head. "I never thought of myself as a prophet. Well let's see… Sasuke, you say Madara's plan was to invade after we'd all been obliterated?"

"That's correct."

"Well the first question is: does he know that his initial plan has failed?"

"He seemed pretty confident," I said.

"And his plan was foolproof," Sasuke added. "He can't have imagined that Naruto would be able to stop it…"

"Does that make me a super-fool?"

Sasuke leant over and kissed me playfully.

"Hmm," Kakashi nodded. "Madara is arrogant and he cares little for the lives of his demons anyway, we know that. I don't think he would send any scouts to check our demise and otherwise there's no way of knowing…"

"So he has no idea we're here?" Gaara said.

"None," Kakashi confirmed. "But nevertheless, Madara isn't stupid. He may have planned for the off chance, that million-to-one possibility that someone capable of resisting may have survived."

"That would explain the army," Kankuro said wryly.

"It makes sense," Gaara nodded. "Madara believes there to be no one left but will move as if there were… which just leaves the question of timing."

"That's right young man," Chiyo jabbed her finger at Kakashi. "When are they coming?"

"I was getting to that. If I were Madara I'd say the most likely people to survive would be vampires."

"Vampires are people now?" Chiyo asked and received dark glares from most of the room in reply.

"It's not just his superiority-complex that would lead him to that conclusion," Kakashi continued. "It's also most plausible since a vampire could cross over to the Demon Realm to avoid the blast."

"So he will attack when vampires won't be a problem," Gaara finished. "Noon?"

"It's possible…" Kakashi brushed his hand over his mask. "How much food do you have?"

"Food!" Ebizo rocked forwards. "A splendid idea. Nothing like a night-time meal to get your spirits up!"

"Great," Kankuro shook his head. "Now you've got the geezers thinking about eating."

"I mean how long can you survive with the supplies you have?"

"We have huge stockpiles beneath the city and the space to grow food," Gaara said, with perhaps a hint of pride in his voice. "Sunagakure is practically self-sufficient so, in theory, we can survive a siege situation indefinitely."

"Then Madara won't lay siege," Kakashi concluded. "He'll try to overrun the city as fast as possible… but he'll know it'll take time and that at nightfall, the vampires come into play."

"So he'll want to maximise his time in the daylight hours," Sasuke said.

"He'll attack at dawn?" Gaara asked.

"At dawn. He'll attack with the rising sun."

"Then we have an advantage there," Kankuro stood up. "The Demon Realm is dark – they'll be temporarily blinded by the light when they cross over."

"That won't work," Obito shook his head. "Look at where the weakest point between the Realms is."

Kankuro glanced over the maps. Gaara leant over and pointed. "They'll appear behind this large dune – its crest will block them from view from the town walls so they'll have time to become accustomed to the light before they're within range of our crossbows."

"Damn sneaky bastards." Kankuro stuffed his hands in his pockets.

At that moment, Temari returned, followed by Matsuri. "Gaara!" She called. "We have another hundred and fifty fighters."

"Aha!" Chiyo cheered. "When Sunagakure is in danger, its people will rouse to fight any foe! That is the Spirit of the Wind!"

"It's not nearly enough though," Jiraiya said. "A few hundred against thousands… it'll be a –"

"Don't say it," Kakashi cut him off with a worried glance towards Matsuri.

"We're not going to give up here," Gaara said, finally standing up straight from his long stretch bending over the table. "Maybe we are outnumbered, maybe there are too many of them but we can't afford to lose hope. There's too much at stake here."

"Gaara's right," Sasuke nodded. "I think we've said all that needs to be said… if we stand here any longer, doubts will start to creep in."

"The time for talk is over," Gaara agreed. "We should prepare to make our final stand."

"That's our boy!" Chiyo patted him. "Said like a true leader of Sunagakure."

"Oh!" Temari added. "A werewolf came through the eastern entrance. I sent him to the tailor… he was kind of naked." Beside her, Matsuri flushed bright red.

"Speaking of which," I piped up. "I need to go see the tailor too."

"Then I suggest we go about our business," Gaara rubbed his hands together. "Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-san, Chiyo-san and Ebizo-san, if you would assist me in deploying our men? Kankuro and Temari, join your units… no, actually Temari, could you find Obito and Sasuke somewhere they can stay out of the light but remain informed about the battle? Matsuri-chan, please would you take Naruto to the tailor?"

A chorus of agreement and acknowledgement ran around the room.

"Then we will meet in the town square an hour before sunrise. Good luck everyone."


	26. Forged Anew

"Naruto-senpai…" Matsuri spoke for the first time since we had left Gaara's makeshift headquarters.

I glanced over to where she was sitting on an upturned box as the tailor bustled around me taking measurements.

"Yes, what is it?"

"You like Sasuke-san, don't you, Naruto-senpai?" She blushed suddenly. "If I'm not asking too much."

I grinned at her. "I'm in love with Sasuke."

"Love…" She looked down at the floor, touching her lip.

"That's all I need, sir," the tailor said, rolling up his tape measure. "I think I can find something in your size."

He left us alone to search through his store cupboard. I moved to one of the racks in the crowded room and ran my fingers across the fine cloths hanging there, silky beneath my touch.

"Naruto-senpai," Matsuri said again after a while. "How do you get someone else to like you?"

I laughed but stopped quickly when I saw the seriousness in her look. "You don't get the other person to like you," I told her, crouching down to her height. "It kind of just… happens. It's hard to explain but you have to both fall in love with each other – you can't make a person feel something in their heart that isn't there."

"But… but…" She muttered, looking away. "What if the person you like doesn't like you back?"

I pursed my lips. What would I have done if Sasuke hadn't felt the same way? What could I have done? I would have had to try to forget and move on… or else, live my life looking back, dreaming of what could have been.

"Do you know that Gaara doesn't like you?" I asked softly.

She jumped back, bright red. "How did you know it was Gaara-sama that I like?"

"Lucky guess." Did she really not realise how obvious she was? "So, do you know?"

"No…"

"Then, there's only really one thing you can do."

"What?" She stared at me, wide eyed. "I can't! I couldn't possibly…"

"Ask him." I stood up as the tailor returned. "It's the only way to be sure."

The tailor paused, clearly worried he'd interrupted a private conversation, before speaking. "There wasn't much left, since that black-haired kid took most of the cloth to make those purple breastplates. Anyway, are these to your liking?"

He held out a pair of orange three-quarter length trousers, like my old ones, a black tee-shirt and a fine white scarf. I thanked him and took the clothes behind a curtain to change.

"Naruto-senpai," Matsuri said as I came out, wearing my new clothes. "About what you said earlier... how would I ask... that question?"

I checked my reflection in the mirror and adjusted the position of my scarf. "There's no particular way," I sighed. "Just ask him the next time you see him." I turned to address the tailor. "Thank you, how much do I owe you?"

"Oh, no sir," the tailor held up his hands. "I couldn't possibly charge you; this is for the good of Sunagakure."

"That's very kind, thank you," I smiled.

At that moment, Gaara pulled aside the beaded curtain at the entrance to the tailor's shop and poked his head in.

"Naruto, are you finished?" He asked and I nodded in response. "Good. Would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

"Sure."

Gaara looked up at the tailor. "Was what I paid you sufficient?"

"Oh... uh, yeah," he scratched his head. "Quite sufficient, thank you, sir."

I raised an eyebrow at the tailor as I followed Gaara out into the still night, Matsuri trailing behind me. Giving her a significant look, I waved my head towards Gaara's back She turned bright red and shook her head desperately.

"It's just this way," Gaara murmured, oblivious to the silent conversation behind him. We took a left turn, branching off from the main thoroughfare, passing by a figure stretched out on a bench by the side of the road.

"Hey Naruto," the figure growled. "I'm pissed at you."

"Kiba," I grinned, recognising the voice. "How was your journey?"

"Long," Kiba said, sitting up. He was dressed in loose-fitting black trousers with a cloak wrapped around his naked torso. "I'm exhausted and I got a thorn in my paw." He held up his hand to show me a rather small cut. "It's more painful than it looks," he added defensively.

"Yeah, sorry about not taking you with me but, y'know, the extra weight would have made things problematic..."

"Gee," Kiba rolled his eyes. "I'm glad I wasn't a burden on you." He lay back on the bench and closed his eyes. "Now shoo, I'm trying to get at least a little sleep."

"Hey, we're cool, right?" I asked, a little hesitantly.

"Of course we are, you big idiot." He rolled over onto his side. "Go away, would you?"

Gaara cleared his throat. "Just a little further from here."

He led us down a side-street, then another left, slipping through a curtained doorway to descend a flight of hidden steps.

A wave of heat rose up to meet us, contaminating the cool night. The change in temperature was accompanied by a cacophony of clanging, as we negotiated the worn sandstone steps and emerged in a room lit by the bright orange glow of several roaring furnaces.

Sparks leapt from a number of anvils as muscle-bound men crowded around, beating metal into the form of weapons.

Kankuro approached us, wiping his brow. He was shirtless and glistening with sweat.

"Hey bro!" He grinned. "We're doing well. There's going to be more than enough to go around. The katanas ain't high quality but they'll be enough to last the day."

"And the arrow heads?" Gaara asked.

"The latest batch has just gone to the fletchers."

"Good. If we have enough swords then switch focus to the arrows; we'll need them."

"Way ahead of you, bro. We've got over half the forges churning out arrow heads. Again, they're crud but they'll stick in a demon. We're using silver alloy rather than pure silver, though."

"That's fine, just a little silver will give them a bite." By now, I was starting to wonder why Gaara had brought me here – was he just showing off his blacksmiths? – but then, he lowered his voice, although owing to the noise, he was still practically shouting. "What about the other project I asked you to work on?"

"Ah," Kankuro nodded. "It's taken some time – my guys have been working on it all week. We're just waiting for the final ingredient. It's through here."

He took us down a passage leading off from the main forge room. The air cooled again as we walked along the low corridor, lit only by the glow from behind us. There was a solid door at the end. Kankuro withdrew a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open to reveal a small chamber.

The room was hardly larger than a cupboard and occupied only by a small wooden table on which a folded cloth lay. I looked at the unremarkable green velvet and raised my eyebrows at Gaara.

"Come," he ushered me over as he went to stand behind the table. I watched him unfold the cloth, letting it drape over the edges of the table. There was a glint of metal beneath the folds.

"This," Gaara announced. "Is the Kusanagi sword." He let the last flap of material fall, revealing an ornate katana on the velvet bed.

I recognised the engraving on the hilt immediately. I remembered its feel beneath my hands as I had taken it from the ground and swung it at Madara. I could still see the bright white light that had sucked Sasuke to the Demon Realm as the blade shattered.

"No..." I backed away from it.

"Oh great," Kankuro tutted. "All that effort and he doesn't like it."

"What were you thinking?" I hissed at Gaara. "That thing is dangerous!"

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. It's a sword."

"It broke and it took Sasuke away from me and you... you remade it?" I gaped at him.

"Naruto, it broke because the Kyubi overloaded it with his energy. He is no longer a part of you; you can wield it now."

"I can wield my kodachi just fine, thank you."

"Yes, of course," Gaara acknowledged with a tilt of his head. "But there's a lot at stake here. Right now, you can either use your demon energy or you can use your sword. By channelling your energy into this sword, you can use both simultaneously."

"Why can't I just channel my energy into my kodachi?"

"Because it won't resonate. It'll just shatter or melt. The kusanagi sword is designed to be a conduit for demon energy."

"You have a demon," I retorted. "You use it."

"That would be foolish. I would not have full control, like with you and the Kyubi. You don't just have a demon; you _are_ a demon. Only you can use this weapon and it will increase your power significantly. Enough that with you, there might be a chance that we can survive this." He sighed. "I understand your reluctance, Naruto, but this is important. This isn't about little people like you and me... this is larger than that. Far larger. I hope you can understand... but I won't force you. I'll give you time to think."

He waved to Kankuro and Matsuri to follow him out the room.

"Gaara," I said as he was about to leave. "Kankuro mentioned something about a final ingredient."

"Yes. The sword isn't complete yet; it is no stronger than an ordinary katana. In fact, weaker due to the repair. To become the strongest, and to bond it to you, it'll need your energy to flow through it. Think about it, Naruto."

He closed the door behind him, leaving me alone in partial darkness. The blade, though, seemed to glimmer with a light of its own. I approached the table, running my fingers through the air a few millimetres above the sword. I could almost feel the cold radiating from the metal.

In my heart, I felt uneasy. How could something that had caused me so much pain and suffering, work for me? But... Gaara was right. Kyubi was to blame, or my own inexperience, not the sword. A sword is just a tool; it does as its wielder wishes... and a tool with an enhanced connection to its owner... wouldn't that be better?

Yet still, how could I bring myself to use such a cruel thing? It was forged by hunters... forged to destroy demons like me.

But the enemy here was an army of demons... a demon-destroying sword would be the perfect weapon.

I ran my fingers through my hair. What to do... I guessed there was no harm in picking it up, seeing how it handles.

Tentatively, I grasped the hilt and lifted the sword from the cloth. It was lighter than I had imagined; it didn't seem to be any heavier than my kodachi. I raised it vertically in front of my face, paused and then stepped forward, swiping through the air before returning to my initial position. It was... it was a good sword. Well balanced, almost intuitive and comfortable in my hands, like it belonged.

A tingle ran down my arm. Demon energy flowing into the weapon. I could have stopped it at any moment, if I had wanted to. I could have cut off the flow, thrown the sword down and walked out.

But I didn't. I let the flow continue and increase, opening the floodgates and letting my energy saturated every molecule of the metal until it glowed bright silver like the stars at night.

As the glow faded back to its original colour, I raised the sword again and made another practice strike. It moved as if it were an extension of my own body, the same energy flowing through both. From the corner of my eye, I saw a faint silvery-orange trail through the air where the sword had passed.

"Do you like it?" Gaara asked. I hadn't heard the door open.

"Yes, it's... it's good."

"I'm glad." He held out a saya. I took it from him and sheathed the sword before slipping it through my belt. "There's just over an hour to sunrise. Time is fast running out for us."

"Then I guess we need to head to the square."

Gaara frowned, then smiled grimly. "Yes, yes of course. To the square."

* * *

**Author's note: **I'm aware that cold doesn't technically radiate. (Or at least, I don't think it does...) Presumably Naruto wasn't listening when Iruka-sensei taught him that part of physics.


	27. Preparation

I followed Gaara's back along the corridor towards the orange glow of the forges. The Kusanagi sword bumped against my left thigh... it felt strange to have a weapon so long, so much so that I was slightly off-balance as I walked. My kodachi rested familiarly on my right hip. I ran a finger over its hilt. Maybe I could learn to dual-wield...

On second thoughts, no. I'd cut my own hand off if I tried it without proper training.

I looked forward again. Gaara was hunched slightly, his shoulders tense.

"Hey Gaara," I said. "It's going to be alright, you know."

"Yes, of course it is." He didn't turn his head.

"Relax, we've fought demons before. We'll just kick some ass and then, I don't know, we can have a huge feast and hey... you and Matsuri-chan..."

"Shut up," Gaara snapped.

"Sorry," I scratched my head. "I didn't mean anything about Matsuri-chan. I mean, she's nice and she likes you but –"

Gaara stopped and spun around. "Are you even thinking? Is this whole thing just some game to you? Beat the bad guys and live happily ever after. No one gets hurt. No one dies. Because that's just oh so likely. Grow up, Naruto – this is war. There are no happy endings!"

"I... that's not what I meant either..."

"Sorry." Gaara covered his eyes with the palms of his hands and exhaled. "That was uncalled for."

We stood staring at each other. The din produced by the forges did not make the silence any less awkward. Eventually, I leant forward and put my arms around him. There were a few seconds before he returned the embrace, his hands tight around me.

"We're going to make it through this," I told him.

"How do you know?" He clutched at me.

"I don't."

He rested his head against my shoulder. "That's not very comforting."

"Gaara..." I ran my hand gently up and down his back. "What's happened to you? You're a fantastic Hunter – I know you can lead these people because I believe in you. So does everyone in this town. All you have to do is believe in yourself."

He sighed.

"Uh, Naruto?" I jumped back from Gaara at the sound of Sasuke's voice at the end of the corridor. Gaara turned and quickly pushed past the vampire.

"Oh, hi, Sasuke... I, um..."

"Naruto, I need to tell you something important..." He glanced over his shoulder at the forges. "Mind if we go outside? It's a bit loud in here... not to mention stuffy."

Stuffy, yeah stuffy was right. I followed him outside.

"Listen, about what just happened," I said, fiddling with my hands.

"Not now, Naruto," Sasuke sighed.

"But I can explain!"

"I don't need you to explain," Sasuke said in the tone of someone whose patience was wearing thin. "I need you to listen. Now, there's no way you guys will be able to take down every single demon out there –"

"That's kind of what I was going to say, you see –"

"Naruto!" He placed the tips of his fingers against his forehead. "Okay, since you're not going to listen until you've got whatever you want to say off your chest, go ahead. What is it?"

"Well about... what you saw... me and Gaara, not that – it wasn't –"

"You were giving each other strength for the battle."

"No, you don't understand..." I began before processing what he had said. "Wait, actually that's exactly what happened."

"Did you think I'd be angry you hugged another guy?" Sasuke shook his head. "You're still a baka at heart. Anyway..." He held me by the shoulders. "It's very important you listen to this. You have to hold off Madara's army until nightfall. I've talked to Obito and he –"

"Naruto-kun, there you are!" Temari marched straight between us. Before I quite knew what was going on, she had me by the wrist and was dragging me away. "We need you as much as any man. No slacking off now."

"Wait just a moment!" Couldn't she see we were busy? I called back, "Sasuke!"

"Naruto," Sasuke shouted. "Obito has gone –!"

A small troop of soldiers in sparkling purple armour ran between us and Sasuke disappeared from view as Temari pulled me around the corner. What had Sasuke meant? Obito had gone... had he run away? Why did I need to know that?"

"Temari," Gaara pushed his way towards us. "I'm leaving you in charge of fifty men over at the eastern gate. Reinforce it with whatever you can."

I turned my head to take in the square. It was a bustling hive of activity. Groups of men swarmed across the cobbles, some with lengthy pikes wavering above their heads, others with baskets of arrows strapped to their backs. The noise was almost louder than the blacksmiths'... the murmur of desperate conversation, the clatter of weapons, the slap of sandals against sand and stone, interspersed by shouted orders.

"Kankuro," Gaara called as his older brother passed. "Are the weapons distributed?"

"Yeah bro. Crossbows to the archers on the battlements, pikemen bellow. Most have a secondary weapon but it's not uniform."

Gaara nodded and turned, diving back into the crowd. Kankuro vanished from our presence and Temari moved towards the main gates.

"Wait, where do I go?" I asked her.

"The battlements," she answered curtly. "Oi, mongrel!" She shouted, seeing Kiba drift lazily into the square. "Go see if Baki-sensei has finished his preparations at the west gate."

"What am I? Your dogsbody?" Kiba moaned.

"That's exactly what you are. Now move!" She flung her arm out towards the west. "You too, Naruto, get to those battlements."

I swallowed and moved into the crowd, pushing my way between heavily armed warriors and ducking under pikes. I could just about see my way towards the town wall and the narrow stairs leading up to the battlements, way above the heads of the people around me.

Unable to see my feet, I tripped and fell to the ground amongst a forest of legs. Unfortunately, the forest wasn't stationary. The relentless barrage of toes rained against me and the end of a pike struck my face.

Thankfully, a strong hand closed around my arm, pulling me to my feet and steering me to the safety of the steps. "You're useless," Jiraiya laughed. "Now get up there. You're needed."

I gave him a smile and climbed the stairs. Kakashi greeted me at the top.

"Naruto." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "This side of the gate is under my command."

"Including me?"

"Not exactly..." I followed him along the battlements, weaving around the men running to and fro, their crossbows under their arms. "You're our secret weapon, so to speak. Honestly, the advantage your power gives you makes you worth ten men on the battlefield. You'll stick with me at first but if we want to win this then we're going to need you to reinforce the weak points. That is, if you're up for it."

I grinned. "I'm game. Just tell me where I'm needed."

"Good." He reached out and grabbed a man's crossbow. "If it's loaded, keep it pointed away from your allies," he hissed at the soldier in question. "Seriously, these must be the worst excuse for Hunters I've ever come across," he tutted as we continued walking.

"They're not Hunters," I reminded him. "They're just ordinary people protecting their homes."

"Once they pick up a crossbow, they're a Hunter. It doesn't matter what they're fighting for; they're fighting and if they get it wrong then we're all screwed. Ah, now that's more like it!"

Up from the crowd, rose a giant crossbow. I followed the ropes from which it was suspended up to a make-shift crane on the other side of the gate – no more than a few pieces of wood lashed together, groaning and creaking to the shouts of 'heave!'

"It's a ballista," Kakashi explained. "Kankuro built it practically by himself."

I looked up and saw Kankuro standing above the group around the crane, shouting down instructions.

"Heave ho! Keep it steady lads!" There was a crack and the crane lurched to one side, the ballista swinging over people's heads. "Careful!" Kankuro jumped down, yanking the rope from one of the men's hands and pulling himself, one hand over the other, the sweat gleaming on his muscled body.

A dozen hands reached out as the ballista reached the battlements and pulled it to safety.

"Bring it up here," Kankuro instructed, taking one end. "Set it up with a full view of the plains."

"That's one thing in our favour," Kakashi said, turning away from the spectacle. "We've got some damn fine ingenuity."

"Kakashi-san!" I recognised Matsuri's voice as she came towards us, struggling under the weight of several basket-full's of arrows. "Here they are!"

"Pass them along. Where has Gaara got to?"

"Gaara-sama?" She blushed. "He... he's down there, talking to Chiyo-san and Ebizo-san."

The crowd had started to settle into its position now, so we could clearly see – and hear – Gaara arguing with the aged siblings.

"Don't you stop us, kiddo," Chiyo jabbed Gaara in the chest for effect. "We two are the best warriors Sunagakure has. Back in our time, we could fight our way through the darkest depths of demon territory with our eyes shut!"

"In your time, yes," Gaara sighed. "I'm just saying it would be better if you weren't on the front lines. We need experienced medics so I want you to hold back –"

"And what of the demons, young man?"

"By all means, if you see a demon then –"

"He's going to have his work cut out there," Kakashi remarked.

"Sir!" One of the soldiers called out. "It's the sun, the sun is rising!"

Kakashi pushed between two men, jumping up onto the wall and raising his hand over his eyes. I stretched up to see where he was looking, and sure enough, there was a faint glow among the mountains on the horizon.

"This is it... better get ready."

I nodded. Below, in the square, Gaara had been notified of the sunrise and was directing the last few people to their places, leaving the ground below empty, save for Temari's pikemen. Further along the battlements, I noticed Matsuri struggling to distribute arrows fast enough.

"Let me," I said, coming up behind her and relieving her of a couple of bundles of arrows.

"Thank you, Naruto-senpai."

"No prob." I handed the bundles to every other man, leaving the ones I missed to Matsuri. "You don't have a weapon," I observed as I took another few bundles from her.

"Ah, yes. I did have a katana but it was too long for me and Kankuro-san said he'd get me a replacement... but I think he forgot and I don't want to bother him so I thought..."

I followed her a little further along before I spoke. "Matsuri-chan..." I unclipped my kodachi from my belt and held it out to her. "I want you to have this."

"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly..." She juggled the baskets of arrows around a bit to wave her hand.

"I don't really want to part with it," I grimaced. "But it's a good sword... saved me plenty of times and well, it would make me happy if it were you who had it. So take it, okay." I pushed it forward into her free hand.

"I... thank you, Naruto-senpai."

At that moment, Gaara came up the steps behind us. I wished Matsuri good luck and ran to catch up with the red-haired general. Kakashi stepped out in front of him before I could get a word in.

"Are you making a speech?"

Gaara pursed his lips. "No."

"You're not?" Kakashi looked a little surprised behind his mask. "I think it would be a good idea, to build courage."

"Courage?" Gaara shook his head. "How can I inspire courage when I am leading my people to their deaths?"

"These men are scared half to death already," Kakashi hissed. "They need something to give them strength... if their hearts fail then so does our defence."

"I am in no position to be making speeches."

Kakashi's eyes flickered over him for a moment. "Then I shall do it."

He turned, and climbed the short flight of steps to the tower on the left-hand side of the gate. The ballista stood opposite him, the massive bolts stacked beside it. Behind him, the sun was rising steadily, lighting his features in a soft morning glow. A desert breeze blew over the rooftops, through his silvery hair as he reached up and, with two fingers, pulled down his mask.

* * *

**Author's note: **If you were wondering why the town square is by the wall and not in the centre of the town it's... uh... because historically, Sunagakure had a tax system which placed heavy tariffs on imported goods sold inside the town so foreign merchants sold their wares just outside of the town walls to get around the tax. As time passed, the Sunagakure Council changed the tax system, removing the tariffs but the merchants, out of habit continued to trade outside, though gradually they moved just inside of the east gate where the square subsequently developed. There is a second square in the centre of the town outside the council buildings which was used for selling local produce, which is now known as the plaza to avoid confusion. How was that for a handwave?


	28. Onslaught

"Wow!" Matsuri whispered behind me. "Why was he keeping that face covered up all this time?"

I couldn't help but agree; almost everyone in the square and along the walls had stopped to stare at this silver-haired man standing above them. His hands rested lightly on his hips, his familiar crossbow slung across his back and a brand new sword at his waist.

His weapons though, were not the focus of anyone's attention. All eyes were drawn to his chiselled good looks that had been hidden beneath his mask.

"People of Sunagakure!" He shouted, his voice resonant. The muttering that had been running rampant through the crowds dropped dead. "People of Sunagakure! The sun rises before us! The time is nearly upon us! The time when we shall face an enemy in battle who is greater than any we have faced before... I see Fear is amongst you, but do not be afraid!

"This will be a time of many trials. Our foe is nearly upon us but do not forget what we are fighting for. He believes that the human race is over. He believes we will give in without a fight. He believes we will sit by meekly as he slaughters our men, our women and our children. Well now is the time we make our choice. Will we let him do as he pleases? Will we?"

A rustle of muttering ran between the soldiers. No one seemed to want to be the first to answer. Then, from near the back of the square, a liver-spotted head rose. I smiled as Chiyo cupped her hands to her mouth and called out,

"Not on my watch!"

A roar of erupted from the crowd. Shouts filled the square, every single voice in unity with Chiyo.

The edge of Kakashi's mouth rose. I thought I saw a glistening in his eyes.

"Let me tell you," Kakashi continued, holding up his hands for quiet. "I may not be from Sunagakure and I may not have always been on the best of terms with the council... but today, I am proud to stand here among you. Among the finest fighters I have ever had the fortune to meet!"

They cheered, almost before he had reached the end of his sentence. Beside me, Matsuri was yelling her lungs out with the rest of the soldiers on the battlements.

"The time has come! The time to make our stand. Remember this: it is _our _time!" Again, his words were met with cheering. "The human race is not yet through and it will not end today. Not once has an enemy crossed these proud walls and nor will he today. Today is our time!"

The cheering was louder than ever. Pikes, swords and crossbows were raised in the air. Kakashi was grinning now.

"Today we fight! Today we hold the line! Today!" He paused. "Today, we show them what the human race can do!"

Matsuri threw her arm around my neck and I found myself caught up in the cacophony of noise which could probably be heard in Konoha. I imagined Sasuke listening in some darkened room and smiling to himself. He would know that we were strong enough and unified enough to win this. Sasuke had said to hold Madara off until nightfall... at this rate I suspected we could hold him for a year.

I felt Matsuri's arm disappear from my neck. "Sorry, Naruto-senpai," she blushed. "Got carried away..."

Everyone around me was settling down now, turning towards the sun which had risen clear above the dunes by now. A huge, shimmering circle of pale yellow light. Beneath it, the air swirled like water in the heat.

Bolts were slotted into crossbows. The cranks were wound until their strings were taught. Stocks were rested against shoulders, elbows against the wall and heads lowered to sights. All eyes pointed towards the dune sea, ready for whatever would come.

"Good luck, senpai," Matsuri said. I returned the sentiment as she ran off to grab the next lot of crossbow bolts.

"Enemy sighted!" A voice called out somewhere along the line.

Every single man tensed, scanning the horizon.

"Due east!" A second voice clarified. "Four hundred metres and closing!"

It took me a few moments to spot the dark shape emerging from the heat haze but once my eyes were locked on, it was easy to identify as a demon. Soon, more dark dots appeared, forming into an increasingly long line.

"Hold your fire!" Gaara commanded. "Wait until they're in range!"

"Naruto," Kakashi appeared by my side. He had replaced his mask. "With me. Concentrate your fire on the targets I specify."

We dashed quickly along the battlements and up onto the left-hand tower. The men we passed were exchanging trembling whispers.

"Why aren't they moving?"

"They must be waiting?"

"What for?"

Gaara threw a salute as we arrived on top of the tower and quickly turned back to the horizon. On the right-hand tower, Kankuro was sighting up the ballista. Next to him stood another man, ready with a second ballista bolt.

"Hey, bro!" Kankuro called. "I could hit 'em from here."

"Hold your fire," Gaara repeated.

By now, so many demons were grouped on the horizon that they formed a single thick, black line. As the sun rose higher, I saw numerous tails waving above the line.

"They know we're here," Kakashi murmured. "They're waiting for orders."

"Madara's not with them?" I asked.

"No... he'll be in the demon realm where it's safe. Mind you, it shouldn't take this long to receive orders..."

Time passed slowly. With each minute, the soldiers became more uneasy. Soon, even the whispered conversations had been replaced with thick silence.

There was a harsh bark from the square below. We turned to see Kiba transform into human form.

"Gaara!" He called. "Demons at the west gate!"

Muttering ran through the crowd. Heads turned and frowns deepened.

"Don't say it so loud," Kakashi chided him under his breath. A number of soldiers began drifting away from the square, anticipating the order to move to the other side of town.

"Hold your positions!" Gaara ordered. "How many?"

"I'd say a hundred," Kiba replied.

"It's a diversion!" Kakashi leant over the edge of the tower. "Hold your positions! Kiba, you're on your own."

Kiba nodded and ran off, shifting into werewolf form as he went.

"Bro! They're moving!"

Almost as one we turned back to the horizon. The demons had begun to move forward, at a slow, loping pace at first but quickly speeding up. Dust rose from behind them as they crested the tip of the dune and for the first time, we saw the extent of their army.

The line we had been looking at was only the front rank; behind it, the demons stretched back as far as they were long, swarming over the dunes. A raging sea of teeth and claws. Guttural roars filled the air, sending shivers down my spine.

"Hold your fire!" Gaara called out as Kakashi raised his own crossbow. "Brother, on my mark..."

"Naruto," Kakashi hissed. "When I say, aim for the centre of their troops."

"Hold..." Gaara glanced up and down the battlements. "First group, ready..." Sweaty fingers rested against the triggers.

"They're in range!" Kankuro called. Gaara nodded.

"First group, Kankuro... fire!" Every third man squeezed his trigger. A volley of bolts ripped through the front line of demons. Demons fell, spinning and tumbling into the sand but almost instantly, their places were taken by the ones behind them. There was a thwack as a massive bolt shot from the ballista, spearing a large five-tailed lizard and sending it crashing back into the demons behind.

"Suname! Reload!" Kankuro shouted to his companion. The first group of crossbows were already slotting new bolts into place.

"Second group... fire!"

"Now, Naruto!"

I sent a ball of bluish-white energy hurtling through the air, overtaking the second swarm of crossbow bolts in an instant and crashing into the wave of demons. A direct hit! Demons were blasted back from the sudden sand cloud thrown up by its impact.

"Third group... fire!"

More arrows filled the air, decimating the front rank. I sent another couple of blasts, devastating the oncoming demons... yet, the gaps were quickly filled, as if we had had no impact. They were getting dangerously close now and we had gained nothing.

"Fire at will!"

Demons fell under the barrage of arrows. A second bolt from Kankuro's ballista skewered two at once. I gritted my teeth as I threw blast after blast at them. What had these demons done to deserve this slaughter? Madara would pay for sending them to their deaths... that I swore.

A red ball of energy shot over my head, careening into one of the taller buildings of Sunagakure, which exploded. Those in the square dived aside to avoid the debris which crashed down upon them.

I saw the glow of a second ball forming between the claws of a dragon-like creature. A streak of white energy left my fingers, hitting the red as it was launched. The shockwave swept the battlements, sending bolts off course, clattering against the town walls. As the ringing in my ears cleared, I saw the area cleared by the explosion. The demons around slowed, looking at the devastated crater.

"Maintain fire!" Gaara shouted.

The demons were riddled with crossbow bolts, slumping into the sand. A cry ran through them and the quickly turned tail and ran, back over the dunes. Our crossbow bolts followed them.

"Cease fire!" Kakashi shouted.

Gaara grabbed him by the forearm. "What are you doing?"

"We do not shoot our enemies in the back," Kakashi hissed. "That's what Madara would do."

"Those demons are just going to turn around and attack again! This isn't over, Kakashi."

"And when they do, we will be ready." He placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder. "Get a grip. You're better than them."

"Am I really?" Gaara glared back. "I've dragged my people into a war that they cannot hope to win."

"It was not your choice to make. Every human on the planet is in this war, whether they wish to be or not. Your only concern is getting them out of it alive."

They stayed still for a few moments until Kakashi turned and descended the steps. "This is just a short respite!" He called. "Rearm yourselves and reload. Prepare for the next wave. Is anyone wounded?"

Gaara stayed for a few minutes, staring out into the desert. The palms of his hands rested on the crenulations of the wall, his finger nails scraping gently against the stone. I didn't like to speak; he seemed... intense. Shortly after Kakashi's voice had faded away, Gaara stood up straight and disappeared down the steps, not saying a word to anyone as he passed them.

I had half made up my mind to follow him when Matsuri came across the walkway from the other tower where Kankuro and Suname were making adjustments to the ballista.

"Oh, hey senpai," she smiled. "Where did Gaara go?"

"I think he wants to be alone..." I noticed a trickle of blood on Matsuri's forehead. "You're bleeding."

"Oh, it's nothing." She wiped away the blood with her hand. "I got hit by a piece of rubble."

"All the same, you should get it looked at..."

"Already did," she said, sitting on the wall. "Yashamaru-san said it was fine. Is Gaara alright?"

I pursed my lips. In all honesty, he seemed very different from the Gaara I had known during my training, but could I really tell this girl the truth?

"He's not, is he, senpai?" Matsuri murmured. "I thought he was acting strangely."

"This is a stressful time."

"I know," she nodded. "He'll be happy again when this is over. How long do you think it'll be until they attack again?"

I shrugged. "Kakashi would know. I expect we have some time. They'll be regrouping and rethinking their tactics..."

Matsuri slipped off the wall and came to stand by me, resting her chin on her arms folded atop the crenulations.

"Senpai... there are a lot more of them than I thought. Do you think we can win this?"

I sighed, looking at the people around me. There was some movement along the battlements but most of the men were simply fingering their weapons. In the square below, the pikemen shifted about. A small group of men were shifting the larger pieces of rubble to the edge of the square and a number were perched on the benches in the shade with Chiyo, Ebizo and a blonde-haired man, who was presumably Yashamaru, tending to their various injuries.

"We don't have to win," I replied, remembering Sasuke's words. "We just have to hold the line until sunset."

"What happens then?"

"Honestly... I don't know."


End file.
